I am somewhat disappointed that the Minister for Education and Science is not here to reply to this matter. However, if it is an indication that he is at last concerning himself with a resolution to the ASTI dispute, I will excuse his absence from the House.
I am raising on the Adjournment the subject matter of Parliamentary Question No. 912 which I tabled on Tuesday, 7 November. The Minister for Education and Science, Dr. Woods, replied to my question on the extension to St. Mary's Secondary School, Macroom, as follows:
My Department's planning and building unit is currently examining the stage 4 submission (detailed design) for the proposed extension at the school to which the Deputy refers. Once this examination is complete and, if found to be in order, the issue of progressing to stage 5 – bill of quantities – will be decided. A decision regarding the invitation of tenders for proposed remedial works to the roof of the PE hall at the school will be made shortly.
I wish to be as frank and honest as possible in debating this issue because I believe it is more than five years ago since I made representations to the Department about an extension to St. Mary's Secondary School, Macroom, and repairs to the PE hall. Since I made these representations, almost a full cycle of second level students have completed their education at St. Mary's Secondary School without adequate provision for PE, adequate classroom facilities, science laboratories etc. being available to them.
This is a damning indictment of how we do business because five years ago the school authorities and board of management and the Department of Education, through its inspectorate and schools building unit, recognised the shortcomings, yet we have meandered our way in a casual stroll-like fashion through the procedures to such an extent that as at 7 November as shown in the Minister's reply we are at stage 4 and perhaps proceeding to stage 5. It is very difficult to explain to parents, staff and pupils that these inexcusable delays are somehow justifiable, because they are not. If in 1995 the Department recognised there were shortcomings in the school infrastructure, it should have been possible long before now to resolve them. I believe it is as symptomatic of how the school buildings unit of the Department does business as it is of the failure of Government to provide funds for the extension. When this Government came to office there was the bones of a resolution to many of these problems in the proposals for local self-governance on education matters through the Education Bill which the previous Minister for Education had been piloting through the Dáil.
The new Minister, Deputy Martin, threw the baby out with the bath water Perhaps some aspects of the Bill were not quite palatable but there was a structure in the vocational education committees which could have been modified to take into account all primary and secondary school policy decisions. That vehicle could have been expanded to accommodate the needs of teachers' and parents' representatives on the board and given a system of local decision-making on education matters. Given that the Minister threw the baby out with the bath water we must now make representations to the school building unit in Tullamore for every pane of glass which needs to be repaired in the school. This is ridicu lous and inefficient and it will now cost significantly more to build the extension than if the work had been carried out quickly in 1995. However, the approach of successive Administrations to all school buildings is to procrastinate and delay. The only way to resolve this issue is to provide the decision-making authority at local level, similar to the health boards, whereby priorities can be made on the basis of annual financial allocations. Then we would not be hiding behind stage 4 or stage 5 procedures.
The reality is that this project is long overdue. Two successive Administrations have had the issue before them for a considerable time. I urge the Minister of State, primarily on behalf of the students who, I regret, are not centre stage in many education debates at present, not to let another full cycle of second level students go through St. Mary's Secondary School, Macroom, without adequate PE facilities, science laboratory facilities and all the other classroom facilities necessary to deliver a modern quality education service.
