Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 23 Apr 1997

Vol. 478 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Kilrush (Clare) School.

Miss de Valera:

Thank you, a Ceann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this matter which is of great importance to the people of Kilrush. I hope the Minister will be able to indicate the Government's commitment to expedite this matter, the provision of a single site development for Kilrush community school. I raised this matter a number of times in the Dáil, not least 14 months ago on 20 February 1996 on an Adjournment debate. Indeed, it gives me no pleasure to have to raise it again. I have continuously raised this matter in the House, but there has been no movement or progress.

There is growing frustration among the parents, teachers and students of Kilrush community school. Planning permission was granted but further steps have not been taken to advance the matter. No commencement date for the new school building has been set, although the Minister promised that this project would be accorded the highest priority to ensure the details in providing the new building are minimised to the greatest extent possible. The parents are most frustrated by the lack of information, communication and commitment from the Minister. Last November the parents voted to withdraw their children from school if there were any delays in the building process. Matters seem to have come to a stop, and if they do not receive a building commencement date by 28 April 1997, this action will proceed.

Over the past five years, the board of management has been running the community school on split sites. The board has directed the principal to give a letter to all parents with students in the school on Friday, 25 April concerning the proposed action to be taken on Monday, 28 April. ASTI and the TUI members have agreed that as and from Monday, 28 April, teachers will report for work at the CBS site and remain there to teach whatever classes can be accommodated and have agreed examination classes will not be disrupted.The unions are seeking an acceptable commencement date, a completion date and classroom accommodation for September 1997.

I hope we will not hear further prevarication from the Minister. The parents and teachers have been particularly patient and do not wish to take the proposed action because they want to get on with the job of educating future generations. Even at this late stage, there is an opportunity for the Minister for Education to take the appropriate action immediately.

Minister of State at the Department of Education (Mr. Currie):

I am grateful for this opportunity to clarify the position concerning the proposed extension to Kilrush community school, County Clare, and would like to give some details regarding the background. In 1989 it was decided that the three post-primary schools in Kilrush, the Convent of Mercy, the Christian Brothers' school and the vocational school, should be amalgamated into a single school to cater for 550 pupils in the long term.

In 1995 the planning and building unit of the Department of Education purchased property from the Christian Brothers in Kilrush for the provision of the new community school. The property comprised approximately 6.5 acres, a number of buildings used by the Christian Brothers' primary and secondary schools and a playing field consisting of approximately nine acres. In September 1995 phase one of the project, which involved the refurbishment of the existing Christian Brothers' post-primary buildings, was completed. Currently, there are ten general classrooms, a physics room and a science laboratory located on the Christian Brothers' campus.

At present Kilrush community school operates on a split site in the town while awaiting the construction of phase two of the proposed development.The architectural planning for phase two, which involves the provision of approximately 2,373 square metres of additional accommodation, is proceeding and the design team has submitted the developed sketch scheme for the project in the past two days.

The House will appreciate that the architectural planning of a project this size and complexity, involving expenditure in the region of £2 million, takes a considerable length of time. However, it is accepted that there were delays at the initial planning stages due to problems associated with incorporating the Christian Brothers' primary school as part of the overall community school development. Following various proposals for the inclusion of the primary school as part of the project, it was decided after quite lengthy deliberations that it would be more economically and architecturally feasible to demolish the Christian Brothers' primary school instead of renovating it. I understand that the examination of the stage three documentation has already commenced and will be completed in a matter of days. The next stage of planning is the preparation of the detail design and tender documentation.

I assure the Deputy that the Minister for Education is fully aware of the urgent need for accommodation at the school and it was for this reason that last year, the project was designated as a priority to facilitate its inclusion in the 1997 building programme. As I have already said, processing of the stage three documentation is already under way after which the design team will be asked to expedite the remaining work.

It is not possible to give a definite date for commencement of work on site. However, the Department will continue to ensure that delays in providing the new buildings are minimised to the greatest extent possible and there will be no delay by the building unit in processing the remaining stages of architectural planning. When the tender documentation has been completed, tenders will be invited immediately to enable construction of the extension to commence at the earliest possible date.