I thank the Ceann Comhairle for granting me permission to raise this important matter of the provision of a new national school in Daingean, County Offaly.
On 12 June I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Woods, asking the position regarding the provision of a new primary school at Daingean, County Offaly, the progress which had been made on this issue since the new primary school was sanctioned for Daingean two years ago and the reason for the delay in this development. The Minister's reply was as follows:
Architectural planning for an extension to Daingean National School, County Offaly is progressing. However, it is not possible at this point to give any indication as to the timetable for the provision of the accommodation.
When I tabled this motion, I outlined that I intended to bring this reply to the attention of the Minister and of this House and that people in the area were very upset of the existing facilities in the school.
I received queries from a large number of the parents of pupils at Daingean National School. The reason they approached me was that they are anxious about the poor state of the educational facilities provided for their children in the national school in Daingean. The situation is serious. The facilities are very unsatisfactory.
The parents, the teachers and the children want the Minister for Education and Science to provide them with a proper school. These children need proper classrooms to be educated. They need proper facilities for meals in the school and they also need a proper library. The school needs a principal's room. It needs proper toilet facilities and ancillary facilities such as good grounds and sports facilities. It is important to state that this work was sanctioned more than two years ago and the progress to date has been extremely limited.
There are 228 pupils in the school, which has only six classrooms. There are eight meanstream teachers in the school, a principal teacher, a remedial teacher and a resource teacher. Therefore, there are 11 teachers in total in a school with only six classrooms.
There is a further difficulty in that one class is held in a renovated old school, which was opened 18 years ago as a temporary facility. The members of Fine Gael hold their meetings in this school room and members of Fianna Fáil also hold their meetings there. It is not comfortable for meetings, even if there are only one or two held there every year, but it is certainly most unsuitable for children attending classes on a regular basis. In addition, there is a class held in a meeting room above the church which is accessed by a narrow stairway. Furthermore, all of the children and teachers must cross the road on a number of occasions during the day.
The principal uses a portacabin as an office. The resource teacher also uses a portacabin and the remedial teacher works from a seven foot by eight foot storeroom. The school has long outlived its usefulness. At present it is only able to accommodate half the pupils.
It is essential that a new school be provided at the earliest possible date. The parents are so upset and annoyed over this that in August, if no action is taken by the Department, they intend to highlight the situation further. They want to see significant progress by August.
I ask the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, the former Minister for Education and Science who is in the House to reply, to use his good offices to do all he can because it is essential that this new school is provided. It is unfair to have those children using such inadequate facilities. They require a new school.
