St. Colmcille's junior school, Knocklyon, and St. Colmcille's senior school combined as Knocklyon primary school is the biggest primary school in the country. There is a total of 1,500 pupils in all at this school which badly needs sanction from the Department for new classrooms and other facilities.
A feasibility study was submitted to the Department of Education and Science on 2 December relating to the development potential of facilities at the two schools and the costings of what is required to enable the new school project to proceed. The boards of the junior and senior schools are urgently seeking a meeting with officials in the Department to discuss the needs of the school and the feasibility study as furnished. The school is anxious to begin replacing 21 prefabricated classrooms, some of which are nearly 20 years old, in substandard condition and no longer fit for use.
There is an urgent need to upgrade playgrounds and to provide a car park of a reasonable size. There is a need for a general purposes room, a library and a variety of extra rooms for teaching and administrative purposes. Over 500 pupils and 21 teachers are currently based in the prefabricated buildings. Parents are becoming increasingly vocal and concerned about the facilities in which their children are being taught. It is outrageous that a school of this size is conducting classes in 21 prefabricated classrooms.
I visited the school and its needs are clear. The Government is deliberately delaying progressing the sanctions required to enable the development to proceed. At this stage, the management boards are making a simple request. They want a timeframe put in place to commence the badly needed redevelopment of the school. They are merely asking to meet with officials in the Department who are processing the application to ensure any outstanding information that may be required is furnished and to get some idea as to how speedily they might anticipate progress.
In reply to a parliamentary question today on this issue, the Minister gave a general reply on what is being provided for the school building programme. It stated that the primary building programme in 2002 is being funded to the tune of €153 million. The projected costings for the development proposed for the school in Knocklyon is a sum capable of being met in the context of that expenditure. We are talking about money to allow children to receive the education to which they are entitled.
In my parliamentary question I asked that a meeting be arranged between members of the planning and building section of the Department and representatives of the two boards of management of the school. I received the bland and useless reply that a feasibility study on the accommodation needs of St. Colmcille's is being examined – this is the feasibility study received at the beginning of December – and that when this examination is complete the Department's building unit would be contact with the authorities of both schools.
Will the Minister arrange a meeting? If the Minister is refusing to arrange a meeting, when can the boards of both the junior and senior schools anticipate that the Department's building unit will be in contact with them? There is a need for communication and information. Most importantly for the community in Knocklyon, there is a need for the Government to sanction the new school buildings and additional facilities that are required so the children of the area can have a primary education in an environment that meets their needs in this modern age.
