I would like to thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for giving me permission to raise on the Adjournment this urgent and important matter of the proposed community school in Cashel.
When I spoke on this subject in February 1990, and yet again in November 1990, little did I realise that on 27 February 1991, not only would there have been no progress achieved with the community school in Cashel but, worse still, the situation would have deteriorated even further so that we now find ourselves locked in a legal tangle between the Department of Education and the quantity surveyors.
I am very disappointed that the Minister for Education is not present here tonight to hear this debate, but I can assure her there is no escape from this issue and there is no means of avoiding the anger and the frustration of the people of Cashel. I will, however, admit that the present mess is not of the Minister's making and I expect and hope that she is as disappointed as I am with the current situation. However, though our sympathy towards the Minister is willingly given, it does not alter our request, or indeed our demand, that the Cashel community school must be provided urgently and without delay and the responsibility for this rests entirely on the Minister's shoulders.
The deplorable conditions of the Presentation Convent in Cashel are well known to the Minister. I will, however, remind her that this school has poor, unhealthy sanitation; it is a fire hazard; it has no entrance for a fire brigade; it has grossly inadequate classrooms; there is constant flooding in the pedestrian area of the school premises; and there is no ventilation.
The past two months have seen the situation disimprove still further. In fact, one whole section of the school building is now without electricity supply and will remain without it unless a total rewiring job is carried out on the entire building. It has been judged unsafe to use any electrical appliances or even to turn on the light.
The result is that five classes now have to be taught in daylight — not always adequate or dependable. No equipment, such as record players, tape recorders or overhead projectors can be used. Yet these students are expected to compete in State examinations with their counterparts who have the facilities that are not only necessary but vital for participation or good results in State examinations.
Added to these appalling conditions I have outlined, there are 98 students on the streets in Cashel every day moving from one school to another to avail of optional subjects. Some of these students move between schools three times a day in hail, rain, sleet, snow or sunshine. I would like to say to the Minister for Education that this is just not on. I believe the Minister will agree that the appalling conditions for post-primary education in Cashel are not only undesirable but totally unacceptable.
On 28 November 1990, the management of the three schools — the Presentation Convent, the Christian Brothers school and the vocational school — along with the parents' representatives in a meeting with the Minister for Education were assured that the problem of the quantity surveyor would not be solved in the future but would be solved in a day or two. Three months later the problem remains unresolved and matters have deteriorated further. Cashel cannot wait until this legal mess is sorted out.
