I am disappointed that neither the Minister nor the Minister of State at the Department of Education has found it possible to be here tonight.
Adjournment Debate. - Clonakilty (Cork) School.
Deputy Currie is the Minister of State at the Department of Education.
He is standing in for the Minister, but on an important matter such as this I would have expected the Minister to make herself available to respond to it.
I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for accepting this item on the Adjournment. I want to bring to the attention of the House the fact that there is a severe problem in Clonakilty town concerning primary education for boys. This problem has been ongoing for a number of years and last year the parents, teachers and the management got together and worked out a proposal with the Department of Education whereby the senior boys would move to the infant boys' school if the local urban district council made a site available. The local UDC co-operated, the land was signed over and the provisions were made for this extension. In May this year the plans and specifications were forwarded to the Department of Education.
It now transpires that the Department was less than serious about this matter and the local parents, teachers and management are taken aback and quite annoyed about the fact that the Department of Education did not reciprocate their very generous accommodation for this development.
I call on the Minister of State to give immediate sanction to this project. It is not very expensive. It is a commitment which the Department has given. In the boys' primary school teachers and pupils are seeking to carry on an education system in primitive conditions.
I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me highlight this problem and I await, with some expectation, the Minister's response to the matter.
I wish to outline to the House the Department of Education's intention in relation to the accommodation problems facing both the teachers and pupils of Clonakilty national school.
The Minister for Education is aware that the school has a current staff of a principal, eight assistant teachers and a resource teacher. The enrolment on 30 September 1995 was 230 pupils.
The school is currently situated on two sites in Clonakilty. This is following the amalgamation between the senior boys' national school and the junior boys' national school. It is proposed to site the newly amalgamated school in the junior boys' building.
The proposal is to provide additional classrooms and appropriate ancillary accommodation. To facilitate this extension the school was requested to purchase approximately two acres of land adjoining the rear of the school. The school management has confirmed that this has been finalised and the Department can now progress the project.
The building project at the school was included in the 1995 primary school capital programme. The decision to include the project must be viewed as the start of a process involving enrolment projections, confirmation of the brief, sketch scheme, detailed sketch, planning permission-fire certificate and tender.
This project is at the early stages of architectural planning. The architects nominated by the school to oversee the building project have liaised with the Department's technical advisers. Their outline proposals are currently being examined within the Department and when the examination has been completed the Department will contact the school management.
I can assure the Deputy that every effort is being made by the Department to overcome the present difficulties. The Minister accepts the urgency of the case and fully appreciates the concerns of the school authorities, teachers, and parents of pupils at Clonakilty national school.
The Deputy can be assured of the Minister's desire to see an immediate improvement in the accommodation available at the school.