Since becoming a Member of this House in 1981, I have annually raised the need to construct Knocklyon post-primary school.
Adjournment Debate. - Schools Building Projects.
I know as much about Knocklyon school as Deputy Shatter.
In every general election in which I have been a candidate, Fianna Fáil promised it would build the school. The last occasion on which the promise was made was the general election of June 1997 when Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats jointly gave a commitment that the Knocklyon post-primary school would be open by September 1998. The local community schools group, from being an apolitical group which rightly voiced criticisms of different political parties when appropriate, turned into a Fianna Fáil pressure group and dur ing the 1997 election campaign advised voters that if they returned Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats to government Knocklyon post-primary school would be open in September 1998. It is now February 1999 and not a sod has been turned nor a foundation stone laid. The Minister who, in 1998, indicated that he hoped the school would be open by September 1999, said in reply to a Dáil question I tabled on 10 February 1999, that he hopes the school will be open for operation by September 2000. The current position, we are told, is that the buildings unit technical staff in the Department of Education and Science is currently examining the stage 2 submission which is the outline sketch for the school. The Minister told us that at this stage of architectural planning it is too early to say when tenders for the project will be invited. It seems that it is also too early to give any commitment to the community in Knocklyon, who so badly need this school, that it will open in the year 2000. I must sadly predict that, yet again, the people of Knocklyon will be shown to have been conned by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats in a slick election promise made in June 1997 and that they are now intent on betraying. The promise to build the school and to have it open by September 1998 has not been met. A suggestion that it might open by September 1999 will not be complied with and we are now being told that it is a ministerial aspiration – not a commitment – that the school might open in September 2000.
It is time the Government came clean. I am putting the Minister on notice that, in the local and European Parliament elections to be held in June and in the inevitable general election that will take place this year, the people of Knocklyon will not believe any promise made by any Fianna Fáil or Progressive Democrat candidate concerning Knocklyon school. It is vital that the Knocklyon community council and the Knocklyon schools committee reconsider the strategy they have adopted so far, recommence their campaigning for the school, put pressure on this Government and not allow it to be let off the hook by yet again promising a school to which, it appears, it is not committed.
The best that can be said about the Fianna Fáil commitment to the construction of Knocklyon post-primary school is that it can be classified as the single transferable promise. Each time an election is called the promise is transferred into a new election manifesto, a new commitment is given and whoever happens to be leader of Fianna Fáil pledges that he or she will construct the school. Of course, last time around the Progressive Democrats were reeled in to give the same promise. Neither Deputy Harney nor Deputy Ahern has lived up to the promise they made to the people of Knocklyon. I call on the Government to state categorically when this school will be built, when the foundation stone will be laid, when teachers will be recruited, if the school will open for pupils in the year 2000 or if we must look forward to an opening many years hence in the new millennium.
I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline the Department's proposals for the provision of a new school at Scholarstown Road, Knocklyon.
The site at Scholarstown Road was purchased in 1982 to provide a post-primary school for Knocklyon. Following a report commissioned by the Department, it was decided by the previous Government not to proceed with the school. Given that the party of which Deputy Shatter was a member was in Government at that time for two and a half years, I cannot understand how that decision was arrived at.
In March 1988 that decision was reviewed and the Government decided to proceed with the provision of the new school for Knocklyon. The election was long over. Architectural planning of the project has commenced and every effort will be made to ensure the new building is ready for operation by September 2000.
The school is being planned to accommodate 650 pupils with a total floor area of 4,550 square metres. The accommodation will include 12 general classrooms, lecture rooms, mathematics room, together with a number of specialist rooms, for example, social studies, language laboratory, science laboratories, building construction room, senior metalwork room, technology room, mechanical drawing rooms, art and craft room, home economics room, etc.
In December, the Department received the stage 2 submission, i.e., the outline sketch scheme from the design team. The documentation was approved by the Department on 5 February 1999 authorising the design team to proceed to stage 3 – development sketch scheme – subject to a number of amendments. Given that the project is at an early stage of architectural planning, it is not possible to indicate the exact date of construction. However, the programme of work indicates the date of practical completion as August 2000 and every effort will be made to ensure this is met. This project is receiving a high priority and will continue to do so.
The Government's record as one of investment in education has been positive. Deputy Shatter will not be put under any pressure or duress between now and the next election because the school will be open before then.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.05 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 17 February 1999.