With your permission, Sir, I propose to give a minute of my time to my colleague, Deputy Jim Higgins.
Adjournment Debate. - Education Matters.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I wish to make the case for a college of music in Galway. I am glad that the Minister of State, who is from my own constituency, is here because he will also be aware of this problem. We are the only province in Ireland that has not got a school of music. Two such schools are located in Munster and one in Dublin and in total they cater for over 6,000 students. There are not enough places to cater for the demand. There is a great demand for a music school in Galway and a local committee are working on this project.
As the Minister knows, Galway city is renowned for its culture. World renowned artists are brought to Galway each year by the Music For Galway group, Galway Arts Festival, and Pan Celtic Festival. We can cite also the success of the Taibhdhearc and the Druid theatre companies. Galway city and county are renowned for traditional music and culture.
I ask the Minister to have this request referred to the Higher Education Authority and then to refer it back to the Dáil. I will be supporting his case locally and will be glad to help him out as usual.
The sheer atmosphere, ambience and location of Galway city would seem to make it the perfect venue for the establishment of a college of music for the west. I support Deputy McCormack's viewpoint. It is ironic that the western seaboard counties, which are the cradle of Irish music should be left without a college of music for so long. I believe there are compelling educational, cultural and economic reasons for the development of a fully fledged college with a full range of courses for the whole time and part-time training of musicians and teachers to perform and to teach the full spectrum of vocal and instrumental skills.
The uniqueness of the school, however, would be its particular emphasis on the traditional mode, thereby enhancing the status of Galway as the music capital of the celtic world. Galway would seem to be the perfect venue, poised as it is at the gateway to Connemara and half way between the Donegal and Kerry Gaeltachts and at the edge of the rich musical heritage of Clare. At present, as Deputy McCormack has said, we have three colleges of music, two in Munster and one in Dublin.
Ba mhaith liom, mar urlabhraí ar chúrsaí oideachais, gach tacaíocht a thabhairt do mo chara, an Teachta McCormack, agus don rún in a ainm.
There are no courses in music in UCG or the Galway. Regional Technical College. Indeed, I agree with both Deputies on the desirability of providing a school of music in Galway. In fact when I sat on the benches opposite I made the case on numerous occasions for the establishment of a school of music in Galway. Unfortunately the situation that pertained then pertains now, that is the resources are simply not available in the context of the Department's priorities for expenditure on both the capital and current sides.
Under the National Development Plan £75 million will be spent on capital works in the third level area. About £7 million of this will go to University College Galway and the Galway RTC. In association with the provision of 3,600 additional places in universities under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress a further £15 million will be spent on capital development and about £2.5 million of this will go to UCG. Further capital allocations, which have yet to be determined, will be provided under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress to upgrade or replace substandard accommodation in third level VEC colleges. The moneys are committed to areas of priority where funds are long overdue and therefore it is not possible to find the additional resources on the capital side to provde accommodation. I regret to say also that the shortage of financial resources in the Department means that it is not possible at this time to make any commitment to funding on the current side.
I appreciate the case for a school of music in Galway. There are many committed and determined people in Galway and in the west generally. We would all like to see this development take place, but unfortunately I cannot give the House any commitment at this time simply because of the lack of resources.
Will the Minister refer this matter to the Higher Education Authority for study?
There is no point in referring it to the Higher Education Authority because the first thing the Authority would do is to come back to the Department of Education and look for money. I do not think there is any need for a study. If we could provide the money for the accommodation and the teachers at this point in time, the school of music could proceed. That is not possible and all the studies in the world will not change that.
(Limerick East): There are a number of parents in the Limerick, Shannon, Newport and Ennis areas in the mid-west region who have children with language disorders. They have come together to ask the Minister for Education to establish a language disorder unit in the region because this is the best way of helping their children. The children are within the normal range of intelligence, but some of them cannot understand the spoken word, while others cannot pronounce words correctly. They suffer from the verbal equivalent of dyslexia which I understand is called dysphasia.
The Minister of State will be familiar with this problem because I understand he was instrumental in founding a unit such as this in his own constituency. The format of such a unit would be as follows. A small group of seven, eight or nine pupils would be taken by a qualified primary school teacher who would be assisted all day long by a speech therapist. The cost would be quite low because in Limerick, as in other cities, there are many empty classrooms as the school enrolment declines, therefore there would not be a classroom cost. Second, there are a number of primary school teachers on a panel and a teacher surplus to need could be reallocated to a school to carry out this very necessary work. I understand also that Mid-Western Health Board have budgeted for the appointment of a speech therapist. There would be no call on extra State funds if the Minister, on the advice of the Minister of State, could see her way to establish this unit.
I would like the Minister of State to agree in principle to the setting up of this unit tonight. The Minister could examine the submission she has received from the mid-west branch of the Language Disorder Support Group. After an examination of the submission I hope the Minister will agree to set up such a unit in Limerick and to have it in place on I September 1991 after the school holiday.
The treatment in a special unit such as this is not long term. If treatment is of benefit it will benefit the child within a 12 month period. Therefore a unit that would cater for seven, eight or nine children would very quickly fulfil the needs of a larger group because the turnover is quite rapid. As the children are not outside the range of normal intelligence special schools for mentally retarded children are not suitable. However their speech difficulties make it impossible for them to benefit from the ordinary classroom teaching in the primary school. Spending time in a special unit would enable them to fit in to the ordinary class in a very short period.
I have very recently received the request referred to by the Deputy and am arranging to have the matter fully investigated by my Department's inspectorate.
Already, my Department have sanctioned five special classes for language/learning-impaired children in the Dublin area. A sixth class is located in Galway.
In addition to these special classes, facilities for language disorder also exist at Ballinteer, for pre-school language-disordered children, and in special classes at Temple Street and the Mater Hospitals. The Hospital facilities are for children suffering from more than one handicap, including language disorder.
Facilities are also available in various other types of special schools and classes for the handicapped as in many cases the children suffer from additional disabilities such as hearing impairment, emotional disturbance, physical or mental handicap or reading disability, and the language disorder may not be the primary cause of referral in such cases. A preferential rate of capitation grant and pupil-teacher ratio applies to the special classes.
I completely agree with what the Deputy has said. I agree that a very small amount by way of resources is required, but that such provision could have a significant impact. It is evident that there is quite a number of children with speech impediments around the country who could come on significantly if they were given a reasonable level of support and specialist attention. The provision of a speech therapist is a matter for the Department of Health through the Mid-Western Health Board. Certainly I assure the Deputy that my Department will co-operate with the Department of Health in providing the necessary accommodation and other facilities if, as the Deputy says, speech therapists can be found.
One of the difficulties that has been encountered is that of finding speech therapists. I know that in another health board area an agency are finding it difficult to fill a position for which they have the funding. I agree with the Deputy, and I would certainly be most anxious to have continued development in that area.
The Deputy referred to Galway. Unfortunately, there has been quite a controversy in Galway, unfortunately Deputy McCormack has left the House.
We want to move forward to provide the kind of services the Deputy talked about. These should be provided in the normal school environment for children who, as the Deputy has said, may be slow learners but who are capable and competent given the specialist resources referred to by the Deputy. I concur fully with the Deputy, and will certainly endeavour to respond to this specific request and have that kind of class put in place.
Strokane school dates back to 1845. It was closed briefly at the height of the great famine, reopened in November 1847, and has been open ever since. The present school building dates from 1891. It was completely refurbished last year at a cost of £60,000 to the State and a local input of £18,000. The school has 50 pupils and two teachers.
A school bus operating to Stokane for 15 years or more was withdrawn this Easter. It was carrying 25 pupils, 16 of whom were under ten years old and lived more than two miles from the school within the traditional catchment area. So what, then, was the problem?
The Department regulation that states "to the nearest suitable school" was the problem. Someone got out the tapes and discovered that nine of the pupils involved lived 100 to 300 yards nearer another school in another parish, Culleens. So they were disqualified for transport, even though the rollbooks, still extant, dating back to 1860, show that the children of those townlands always went to Stokane. All of that was done by the Department presumably to save money. What happens now? The children can make their own way to Stokane, keeping up the tradition of 150 years, or, as the Department seem to suggest, they can switch to Culleens.
If they do take the latter course, from September there will be ten suitable children from the traditional Stokane catchment area eligible for free transport to Culleens national school. One new school bus route, not wanted by anyone, will be created to replace the route with which everyone was happy for the past 15 years. The savings to the Department, which started all of this merry-go-around, will be precisely none.
However, the implications for Stokane, there since the famine and repaired last year at a cost of £78,000, could be dire. Very soon it could become a one teacher school, and after that it would inevitably have the lock put on the door.
The Department have their regulations, but they also have their moral obligations. Such an eventuality for such a school like Stokane was never envisaged when the regulation in question was drafted in 1973. I ask the Minister to treat this as an exceptional case and to restore the transport, at no cost to the Department.
The school transport service from the Tullylynn and Carns area to Stokane national school, County Sligo, was terminated at the close of the school for the Easter holidays. That action, which was taken in accordance with the terms of the primary school transport scheme, was due to a decrease in the numbers of eligible pupils using the service. Under that scheme in order to retain a service there must be an average of at least ten eligible children travelling daily from a distinct area. Those classed as eligible are children between four and ten years of age living two miles or more from the nearest school and attending that school. Children over ten years of age must be living at least three miles from their nearest school to qualify.
In this case the number of eligible children being conveyed during the Christmas 1990 and Easter 1991 terms was seven. None of the remaining approximately 17 children using the service is eligible for transport to Stokane school, as the Deputy has said. They are therefore in receipt of fare paying concessionary transport subject to accommodation being available on the school bus and to no extra cost being incurred by carrying them. Fare payers may not be taken into the reckoning for the establishment or retention of a school bus service.
The question of the correctness of the Department's decision in discontinuing the service in accordance with the scheme is not being disputed by the school authorities, that is to say, that neither the question of distances to schools nor the number of eligible children is in dispute locally. It is being argued locally that most of the fare payers could conceivably opt to go to Culleens national school, their nearest school, because the service has been terminated and the Department would have to pay for a service to Culleens instead.
My Department will examine the issue if and when ten eligble children from a distinct area request to go to Culleens. It has not been our experience in the past, however, that children change schools en masse because of the availability of school transport. Individual parents do exercise their right of choice, but transport is not a primary factor in their decision.
The enrolment of Stokane national school had been declining before the service in question was taken off, that is not in dispute. I am aware of the point made concerning refurbishment of Stokane school in recent years, but, of course, those works would not have been undertaken in any case if they were not necessary.
The school authorities have raised some points on which further clarification is being sought from Bus Éireann. Preliminary information is that there would not be sufficient eligible children to justify the establishment of a transport service from the area in question to Culleens national school. However, I take the point that the Deputy has made this evening, and I am prepared to consider the case again in view of what he has said.
I have one comment to make in conclusion. When I sat on the Opposition benches I was at a loss to understand many of the Department's regulations and often wondered why they could not be changed. However, when one tries to change the regulations from this side one runs into many serious difficulties. The issue is very complicated but we will consider this case again.
I now call on Deputy Hogan in respect of two matters.
I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this matter. I shall take first the question of Johnstown vocational school. Indeed, you allowed me to raise this matter on 6 December 1990. The Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, was present then, too, and indicated that a decision would be made "shortly." This evening I should primarily like to know what is the definition of "shortly".
The Minister knows well the history of this problem. Since the sixties there have been ten prefabricated classrooms there. On many occasions I have described this school as being largely a shanty town of prefabs that are now in very bad repair. Various reviews have been carried out on the revision of this school going back to 1982. The latest review has delayed the process somewhat. Nevertheless, a decision on whether to advance from stage 4 to stage 5 in order to give this school the go-ahead now rests with the Department of Education.
In addition, I must point out that during the course of construction of the school temporary accommodation will be required for pupils and teachers. A proposal has been made by the vocational education committee and the school authorities to the Department of Education for a small sum of money to be made available to refurbish the old primary school at Urlingford in order to provide temporary accommodation for pupils during the course of the school's construction.
I ask the Minister to review this case, to let us know what is the up to date position and to grant immediate sanction for the construction of this school, an undertaking which for historic reasons has dragged on for so long.
I thank the Deputy for his very reasoned case. Johnstown, County Kilkenny, is a single school post primary catchment area catered for by a vocational school. The school has a current enrolment of 317 pupils and accommodation for 300 pupils, much of which is in prefabricated buildings, as the Deputy has said. An extension proposed for the school is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning. In common with all other projects in the Department's second level building programme the project at Johnstown vocational school was subjected to review in the light of 11 relevant factors, including the most up to date statistical data and demographic trends.
Officials of my Department have had discussions on the matter with representatives of County Kilkenny Vocational Education Committee, with particular refernce to the estimated long term enrolment trends in the catchment area and agreement on the number of pupil places to be provided has now been reached. As a result of the agreed change in the projected pupil numbers to be catered for, revised plans have been prepared by the VEC's design team for the project. These revised plans, and related documentation, have been submitted to my Department and are under examination. The question of the further advancement of the project will be considered when the revised plans have been fully examined. I accept that the delay with this project, as indeed with most post primary building projects, is much longer than anticipated — something similar applies in my own town of Gort — but that largely is due to the reviews that have to take place and also, in no small measure, to the fact that money for the post primary building programme is very scarce at present. Consequently, much of the work that we would like to proceed with is delayed.
Again, a Cheann Comhairle, I wish to thank you for the opportunity to raise the question of Ballyhale vocational school and the need for an extension to that school or the erection of a new school at that location. As the Minister is aware, Ballyhale is a rural area of south Kilkenny and the school serves a very vibrant rural community. Enrolment at the school has been in excess of 200 pupils anually and it has achieved considerable success in academic, cultural and sporting activities. A full range of subjects is provided under the auspices of Kilkenny VEC. The school also provides post leaving certificate courses such as a full time two-year course in hairdressing which is recognised by the Department of Education technical branch and the City of Guilds in London. This course is unique in the south east and draws pupils from five neighbouring counties. At present the pupils are housed in a conglomeration of permanent but mostly temporary accommodation with grossly inadequate facilities. The conditions for teachers and pupils are seriously below standard and are appalling in times of bad weather.
I acknowledge that there are serious financial difficulties in the country. Indeed, no Fine Gael Deputy can be lectured about fiscal rectitude, and it is unique for Deputy Fahey, and his party, to be talking about that now. Nevertheless, allowing for financial responsibilities and scarcity of finances in the post-primary building sector, I ask the Minister to take an initial step and give some hope to these people who have put up with inadequate facilities over the years. Perhaps he would allow the immediate release of funds for the purchase of a site so that the school authorities can see light at the end of the tunnel and that the construction of a new school will be considered in the context of the financial allocations for the coming year. What is urgently required is the provision of funds to purchase a site. This would allay public concern that the Department of Education are dragging their feet on the issue.
I am not going to respond to any lectures on fiscal rectitude at this hour of the evening. I am very familiar with the hurlers from Ballyhale, having played against them on a few occasions. How many miles is Ballyhale from the nearest post primary centre?
The nearest post-primary centre is at Thomastown, four or five miles away.
The school has a current enrolment of 212 pupils. My Department had approved the provision of a permanent extension to cater for 200 pupils overall at the school to replace existing temporary accommodation. Architectural planning of the project had reached an advanced stage when difficulties regarding the acquisition of additional property adjacent to the school building were encountered.
Also, as with other major projects, my Department are reviewing the project for Ballyhale vocational school in the light of the most recent school enrolments, primary and postprimary, and demographic trends. In those circumstances, the question of sanctioning the purchase of a site additional to the existing school site must await completion of the review of all aspects of the proposed project.
The reason I asked about the distance from the nearest school is that from experience in my town of Gort we found — I give this as a personal view rather than an official one — that to go ahead with a 200 pupil vocational school would not have been in the best interests of education in the area. That is a personal view, and I wonder if it would be in the best interests of education in the area referred to by the Deputy to go ahead with a single 200 pupil school in this day and age. I would be glad to talk with the Deputy, or any other Deputy, about the advantages of larger schools, even though it would mean pupils having to travel a couple of extra miles. In Gort we decided to abandon the school which was at a very advanced stage of planning and opt instead for a community type development with a larger school. People are much happier with that and we are waiting, as are the people in Kilkenny, for construction work to commence.
The Dáil adjourned at 11.30 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 9 May 1991.