It is most welcome news that the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Fitzgerald, is to respond on behalf of the Minister for Education. Having listened to her during the past 12 months speaking about millions and billions of pounds I expect that she will be in a position to give me a cheque for a few thousand pounds to bring home to this rural national school.
It says a lot that it is necessary for me to raise on the floor of the House the provision of funding to provide a hard playground area for the 70 children at Annacarty national school, an area which the Ceann Comhairle knows well. It is pathetic that there is only enough ground for 20 children at this lovely rural school which I visited last week.
One may ask why this matter has caused so much anguish and anger among teachers and parents and hardship for the pupils. The lack of ground is causing a tremendous problem at this school which has three classrooms, toilets and an inadequate cloakroom. There is no lunch room, office for the principal, teachers room, PE room or extra accommodation, just the bare minimum. As a consequence, at break time, even during lunch hour, the children have no option but to go out to the fields to eat and play.
Due to the lack of hard ground and to weather conditions, from 11 a.m. onwards the children often have to spend the rest of the day in wet clothes. Parents have informed me that they need five outfits per child because each evening they have to change their shoes and clothes which have to be washed before they can be worn again. This is not fair.
All the board of management, teachers and parents need is a few thousand pounds. They are prepared to provide a local contribution. They need approval to start this work during the summer months. I am afraid, however, that they have reached their limit of tolerance. Having visited the school on a wet day I believe they have been most patient. All they are looking for is a maximum of £10,000.
The school has many priorities. It needs repainting, new school furniture and additional accommodation. It was lucky to be provided with a shared remedial teacher but they have nowhere to operate from, apart from the cloakroom. In terms of facilities, resources and accommodation some national schools are well provided for, but others badly need to be considered favourably by the Department of Education.
My request will not upset the national finances and will have no bearing on the National Development Plan but would mean a lot for the students, teachers and parents of Cappawhite. It is hard to demonstrate adequately just how strongly they feel about this issue and how much they need the finance to make provision for the little students in Annacarty. It is both urgent and necessary. We cannot allow another week or two to go by without issuing approval for this project. What they are looking for amounts to a mere pittance. I look forward to receiving a generous response from the Minister of State which will determine whether I should have trust and confidence in her in spending the millions and the billions of pounds that are to follow.
