asked the Minister for Education when construction of the new replacement national school at St. Paul's, Lisduggan, County Waterford will commence.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Waterford National School.
9.
I am not in a position at this point in time to say when construction of the new replacement national school at St. Paul's, Lisduggan, County Waterford, may commence.
The position is that a sketch scheme has been prepared for a proposed extension to the national school in question, and is regarded as acceptable in principle by my Department. My Department expect, as soon as the usual check on enrolment trends at the school has been carried out, to be in a position to negotiate with the school authorities for a suitable local contribution towards the cost of the project. The project can then be listed for preparation of the tender documentation. My Department will be in touch as soon as possible with the school authorities about these matters.
That is a very unsatisfactory reply. Is the Minister aware that this school serves 600 pupils and that there are 12 prefabs, six of which are at present unusable because they are falling asunder? A new school is needed immediately. Is the Minister aware that half of the prefabs are not fit to be used?
Yes, I am aware of the situation with regard to this school and that it is far from satisfactory. However, it is not any worse than the situation in many schools — far too many schools — throughout the country. It is at an early stage of planning by comparison with quite a number of projects which are ready for tender at this stage. The Deputy's Government allocated all the money available before they left office so it leaves me very little room to make any progress in the coming year.
The Minister's party are the Government now. It is their decision. I ask the Minister to visit this school because he is obviously not aware of the conditions. I said that six of the classrooms are not fit to be used. Will the Minister give us an undertaking that the new school project will be allowed to go for tender before the end of this present year?
The position with regard to projects for tender is that there are approximately 60 projects ready to go to tender at present and they must be dealt with first. It is only when they are dealt with that we can move on to projects which are further down the line. I am in agreement with the Deputy on the need to proceed with tender documentation for this school but, as the Deputy is well aware, the school is only one of several hundred. It is estimated there is a backlog of perhaps up to eight years at present in school buildings which require to be improved. The resources are limited but we are in the process of attempting to reduce costs in order to move that backlog faster.
Is the Minister not aware that this is a major school in Waterford city and that the prefabs referred to by Deputy Deasy were built 20 years ago as an interim measure? Twenty years later they are still there, six are unusable and the remaining six are fast approaching that point. There will be no place to facilitate the students in the area. The Minister mentioned 60 other schools going to tender. Does he expect all those to go to tender in a short period of time? What is the time gap? Will this school not go to tender until all those schools have been facilitated? Where exactly does a school of the size and importance of St. Paul's in Waterford stand with regard to the Minister's office?
The speed at which projects will go to tender will depend on the amount of finance made available. I might remind the Deputy that this party's policy is to reduce the amount of finance to be made available for this kind of project. It comes down purely to a question of the resources decided on for spending. I did not notice a great degree of urgency over the past four years with regard to planning of this project. It is not any more urgent now than it was four months ago.
This is very important.
All the questions are important.
The Minister is trying to score political points. I was not here for the past four years. What I want to know from him and what the educational authorities, the board of management and the students want to know is what the Minister proposes to do about this school and when he proposes to do it. These are the answers we require. We are trying to be constructive in our approach to this school and I would expect the same approach from the Minister.
We are having repetition.
Will the Minister please answer those questions?
We are having repetition. I want to repeat that as soon as my Department have completed the usual check on enrolment trends we will be proceeding to the preparation of contract documentation but the provision of resources is the most important aspect of progress. I am not trying to score political points but I am reminding the Deputy that his party's policy is not to spend money on this type of project.
Will the Minister promise he will obtain an up-to-date report on this school because otherwise there is going to be terrible dissension.
We can do that.