Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this important matter. It is extraordinary that two of the 40 schools named by the INTO this week as being substandard are located in County Waterford. It is even more extraordinary that the two schools in question, Cappoquinn convent primary school and Cappoquinn boys' national school are both in the same town of Cappoquinn, with a population of approximately 1,000 people. The catchment area includes Turreen and Melleray.
The board of management of both schools first met in 1991 to discuss the future and the new amalgamated school was sanctioned in 1994. The new school is to consist of at least eight classrooms, with the possibility of an additional classroom. The girls' school has 120 pupils while the boys' school has 70. The local contribution for the new school is in place, as is the site.
The convent primary school is in two parts, with a row of classrooms of St. Anne's post primary school between them. The main two storey building dates back to 1904 while the infants are housed in a pre-fabricated building. There is a steep sloped avenue between the two parts of the school and there is no proper playing area for the children except for some small tarmacadamed areas. I understand that recently a girl in a wheelchair had to attend another school as the school is wheelchair inaccessible.
Part of the boys' school dates back to the early 1940s while another part constitutes a pre-cast concrete building of the early 1970s. The windows are rotten and the heating system is inadequate. There is a concrete playing area about the size of a basketball court. The rest of the play area, part of which is an embankment, is a quagmire today following rain.
The INTO has described the 40 substandard schools it has listed as being a totally unacceptable situation and has warned it will not allow it to continue. I understand that following communication of acceptance of revisions to the brief by the board of management, the Department will be writing to the school authorities by the end of the week.
Some 5% of the substandard schools on the INTO list are located in Cappoquinn and 190 pupils are involved. This situation cannot be allowed to continue. The Celtic tiger is failing the primary school, teachers and children in Cappoquinn. Bearing in mind all the unacceptable features involved I call on the Minister to fast track the processing of the submissions in relation to the new amalgamated school project and to make every possible contribution to taking the children attending primary school in Cappoquinn, and their teachers, away from the present grossly unsuitable situation to a new school worthy of the new millennium at the earliest possible date. Cappoquinn has waited for far too long.
