Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 30 Oct 1991

Vol. 411 No. 7

Adjournment Debate. - County Kildare Post-Primary Schools.

Mr. Durkan

Thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I also thank the Minister for coming to the House to answer me. I acknowledge the interest she has shown in the schools in County Kildare since she became Minister. If the Minister moves to greener pastures I hope she passes on that good habit to the new Minister.

In the short time available to me, I wish to mention the schools in question: Maynooth post-primary school; Confey College, Leixlip; St. Wolstan's Holy Faith secondary school, Celbridge and Scoil Ignáid Rís in Naas.

The school that probably has the least number of problems, Maynooth post-primary school, is one with which the Minister is familiar. It is probably the best furnished school of the four and has many facilities but is suffering from the effects of a fast-growing population. It is located in what is very much a developing area. All of the schools now are in what has been identified as the fastest growing area of population in the country with the exception of the Fingal area in Dublin. There are two matters in relation to that school that need attention. The first is that the site is somewhat restricted, and second, its recreational facilities are somewhat restricted as a result. There is also the outstanding matter of a sum of money for the fitting out of classrooms some years ago. That was not necessarily the responsibility of the Minister but I ask her to attend to it at some stage.

Confey College in Leixlip is located in a very fast-growing area of population. The vast majority of the buildings at that school are prefabricated structures which are unsatisfactory for the ongoing education of students and are not conductive to satisfactory facilities or good educational standards from the point of view of students, parents and teachers. I urge the Minister to provide the necessary finances in the Estimates to provide permanent classrooms.

St. Wolstan's in Celbridge, has the selfsame problem of several prefabricated structures. Classes have been housed in those structures for several years and the position is likely to continue unless the Minister makes a decision to rectify the problem and ensure the provision of adequate accommodation so that students and teachers will be able to carry out their work in a proper climate.

A similar situation exists in relation to Scoil Ignáid Rís in Naas. The school is under pressure as a result of a decision made some years ago by the Minister's predecessor not to proceed with a similar school in Kill. The result is that the school is under pressure, the number of applicants being turned away each year is increasing, class accommodation is restricted and, as a result, the standard that teachers, parents and pupils would like achieved is becoming more difficult to attain.

While acknowledging all the Minister has done so far I ask her to try to provide the necessary finances in the Estimates for the schools mentioned. If that is not done we may later find that generations of students going through those schools, with the exceptions of one, will be accommodated in prefabricated, unsafe, unfit classrooms and, as a result, not have a chance to avail of the high standards we would like to give them.

Minister for Education (Mrs. O'Rourke)

I thank Deputy Durkan for raising the issue of these schools. He has discussed them with me informally on many occasions and through the medium of written and oral questions in the Dáil.

The Deputy freely admitted that Maynooth post-primary school was the best equipped school of the four in that it has regular buildings. As the Deputy knows, it is the sole post-primary provider in this area. The school buildings completed in 1981 are capable of accommodating 600 pupils. The temporary classroom was provided in 1988 and the school now has 625 places. I know there are many calls by people who wish to send their children to that school. The schools mentioned by the Deputy are well run, well staffed and well managed and, on several occasions, have had to refuse pupils. Of the four schools the Maynooth school has the most modern accommodation and great calls upon its places. The Deputy asked about an outstanding grant in relation to fitting out buildings and I shall have that matter looked into.

The second school referred to was Confey College where a major extension is at an advanced stage of architectural planning. The vocational education committee's design team are working on some comments made by my Department on the recently submitted combined detailed design/bill of quantity stage of planning. It is at that stage now and it is freely recognised on all sides that we rushed through various stages of planning for that school to arrive at this position. The area in question is populous and the need for post-primary places is emerging in those centres.

The third school raised by the Deputy is at Celbridge. As the Deputy knows there are currently two post-primary schools there, the Salesian College for 573 boys and St. Wolstan's which has 514 places. The Salesians have a newly built school and plans have been made for St. Wolstan's. My Department have been reviewing the project in the context of the likely short and long term needs. We met management about this matter. I accept that the number seeking post-primary education in the area is set to increase in the short term. Meetings have been held with the school authorities in order to discuss how best to meet the needs of the area and further meetings are planned with the school authorities of both of those schools. The situation is slightly different from that pertaining at the other schools but I shall keep the Deputy informed as to the progress of those meetings.

With regard to Scoil Iognáid Rís in Naas an extension is planned, particularly for specialist rooms for subjects such as geography, science, woodwork, building construction and mechanical drawing. We have been examining those to ascertain the details of the project, such as the nature of the site and the two-tier approach involved, which warrant careful examination. That is continuing at present. We are discussing the relevant matters with the management.

I accept that these are urgent matters since the needs of post-primary pupils in this area are beginning to emerge strongly. I do not foresee any period, certainly in the short to medium term, when pupil's enrolment or intake will decrease in those areas, not like the trend in some other areas, which has been downward already in primary schools and which will, of course, eventually manifest itself in the post-primary sector.

The matters of the four schools Deputy Durkan raised are live issues. I will keep the Deputy informed of developments. May I say through you, Sir, to the schools concerned that we in the Department appreciate the great efforts being undertaken to cope with the ever increasing numbers of pupils in them.