Tá mé buíoch díot as ucht an seans seo a thabhairt dom an cheist phráinneach seo a tharraingt anuas sa Dáil anocht de bharr drochstaid an fhoirgnimh in a bhfuil daltaí ag freastal ar scoil i gCarrandulla i mo dháilcheantar.
The saga of Corrandulla national school started on 15 July 1979 when the Department of Education suggested that the boys' and girls' schools should be amalgamated and run as one school. At the time there were six teachers employed between both schools. A period of time elapsed during which no action was taken. In 1985 a serious accommodation problem arose in the girls' school and irate parents organised a strike at the school to highlight the deplorable conditions in which their children were being educated.
In a Seanad debate on the matter in June 1985 the then Minister of State at the Department of Education, Donal Creed, said that the provision of a new school building was the ideal solution to the problem. At that stage there were eight teachers in the school as there had been a substantial increase in the number of pupils attending the school. Naturally there was great expectation that, as the Minister suggested in a debate in the Houses of the Oireachtas, a new school building should be provided to overcome the accommodation problems, some action would be taken to fulfil that commitment.
Since 1985 there have been visits from architects, engineers, school inspectors, Board of Works officials, Department of Education officials and Ministers of State, all of whom acknowledge the need for a new school, but nothing has happened. The manager of the school, the parents' committee and the teachers have been involved since 1979, and particularly since 1985, in numerous telephone calls, letter writing and meetings about the matter, but again nothing has happened. On three separate occasions the parents' committee travelled to Dublin where meetings took place with officials from the Department of Education but again nothing was done about the matter.
Last June I arranged a meeting with the Minister of Education where the parents' committee finally met the Minister, Deputy Bhreathnach, who assured them that a quantity surveyor would be appointed within one week, by 8 June 1993, and funds would be allocated for the new school in the autumn of this year. When pressed to give a guarantee that money would be allocated in the autumn the Minister pleaded "try me", in other words, "wait until the autumn and you will see me deliver on my word", it is now almost November, we are saying farewell to the autumn and facing a bleak winter, with another broken promise.
In a written answer to a parliamentary question which I put down today on this matter I was informed:
It was not possible to include this project among those to proceed to contract in 1993. It will be considered for inclusion in the Capital Programme in due course in the light of available resources and other commitments and priorities.
The promise in relation to this matter was sincerely made by the Minister and I am very disappointed she is not here tonight to answer this debate. The Minister said in the same reply that all she has to offer is a further meeting. However, the meeting is not with herself, as was requested by the school parents' committee, but with the programme manager. She said that officials from her Department would be in contact with the parents' committee to arrange a suitable date.
There are 260 pupils now attending the school in Corrandulla, in four separate buildings, on three different sites. The buildings are 120 metres apart along a busy public road. The four buildings include the girls' old school, built in 1934; the boys' old school, built in 1946; a prefab classroom provided in 1985 and a mineral bar in a local community hall which was not built today or yesterday.
After the meeting on 1 June with the Minister, Deputy Bhreathnach, a certain person was invited towards the end of June to take an appointment as a quantity surveyor and the person accepted. However, that person was not given the relevant documents in relation to this job until 15 September. It is expected that the quantity surveyor's work will take about six weeks. There is a real danger now that the promise of funding in 1993 will be broken and that the issue of the Corrandulla school will be put on the long finger. Tonight I call on the Minister to make a formal commitment to allocate funds in 1993 so that the project can go to tender before the end of November.
I would be grateful if the Minister would put on record the size of the proposed school, the facilities to be provided and the estimated cost, including the amount of the local contribution which has been paid already. I would like the Minister to say whether it is true that there are three priority categories of school buildings in the Department and that this school is not even on the first priority list. If that is true it is disastrous and the parents and management of the school have been hoodwinked. The saga of the Corrandulla central school has gone on for far too long and I hope that tonight we will be given a commitment to invite tenders as soon as the quantity surveyor completes his work.
I would remind the Minister that this school serves a very large Gaeltacht area and there is great anger among the parents at the way in which their children are being treated during a vital period of their lives. The unfulfilled promises made at public meetings are the cause of great dismay among the community in this area. I hope, despite what we were told by way of written reply, that tonight the Minister will give some hope to the parents, teachers and children attending this school and will not allow this saga to continue.
