I wish to share my time with Deputy Quinn.
Private Members' Business. - Schools Building Projects: Motion (Resumed).
The following motion was moved by Deputy Creed on Tuesday, 19 February 2002:
That Dáil Éireann, noting:
–that over 850 major primary and post primary school building projects are awaiting sanction to proceed to construction phase in the Department of Education and Science;
–the contents of a recent INTO survey of 75 primary schools in substandard conditions;
–the adverse impact which substandard classrooms have on both staff and students;
–the deliberate failure of the Minister for Education and Science to keep boards of management, parents associations, students, staff and elected representatives informed as to the current status of individual school projects;
–condemns the Government for its failure to manage the school building programme and calls for a radical overhaul of the school building unit in the Department of Education and Science to facilitate greater use of public private partnerships, a move to design and build contracts, grater input by local boards of management and increased capital provision to resolve this problem.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "noting:" and substitute the following:
–the Government's commitment towards improving school accommodation as demonstrated by the fourfold increase in funding since coming to office;
–the dramatic expansion of the school building and refurbishment programme at primary and secondary level;
–the vast number of projects now progressing through architectural planning and construction;
–the commencement of work on five major school building projects under the public private partnership and the preparation of further PPPs;
–the measures already taken and the further measures planned to devolve responsibility to schools to deal directly with more of their own building projects;
commends the Government for the many improvements in school accommodation already carried out and notes the determination of the Minister for Education and Science and the Government to continue the greatly expanded school building programme in order to both meet new and emerging needs and to eliminate any substandard accommodation which has accumulated because of generations of under-investment.
–(Minister for Education and Science).
Is that agreed? Agreed.
At a time of unprecedented resources neither I, nor my constituents, understand the reason schools projects in the constituency are still being held up. I wish to refer to the sports hall at Firhouse community college. The complex and tardy planning phase of this development has been completed and the project has been waiting to go to tender for months. This is a hugely populous area and although the facility is very badly needed, it cannot get the go-ahead.
I draw the attention of the Minister to Glenasmole national school at Bohernabreena. The school which was built in a beautiful part of the Dublin mountains in 1958 is now desperately in need of facilities such as toilet facilities. There is a prefab building that is barely functional and there is a complete lack of indoor sports and recreational facilities. The building is unsuitable for young children, the prefab is shabby and in poor condition and there are rusty pipes, cisterns and toilet bowls and toilets which do not work. The condition is generally very poor. I ask the Mini ster to make a decision before he leaves office to approve the necessary works in that school.
I appreciate the presence of the Minister for Education and Science. I am delighted to have the opportunity of saying what I want to say to him directly. I know he is a conscientious and hard-working Minister, committed to the implementation of his brief. I remind the Minister that I have raised with the Taoiseach on a number of occasions the fact that my colleague, Deputy Shortall, the Labour Party spokesperson on education, requested on 4 December, 12 December and 31 January that the Minister publish the list of 850 schools which are at different stages of being cleared for construction or refurbishment from the building unit in Tullamore.
Tomorrow, I will be in Cork city for my 20th constituency visit since December. In all the schools I visit, I hear the same song of frustration, despair, anger and attacks on bureaucracy. The last mentioned is quite unfair because I have spoken to people in Tullamore and, although they are instructed not to give the information in writing, under pressure and in sympathy and solidarity with the parents and teachers they may provide information unofficially.
Can we have some glasnost in the Department of Education and Science 13 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall? Can it not publish the list of schools and their standings in terms of applications for stages 1, 2 or 3 and when they are likely to get the go-ahead to proceed to the next stage? Nobody believes that any Government has a magic wand. Every one recognises that there must be a queue and a prioritisation process. However, people are being driven mad by their complete inability to penetrate this extraordinary wall of obfuscation and Kafkaesque departmental workings. We are told that this is coming from the political top of the Department and the Minister now has an opportunity to refute this if it is not the case.
I can sing a song in chorus with Deputy Rabbitte about the sports hall for the school in Firhouse. On a visit early in February to Dublin West, I had the pleasure of meeting people from Castleknock Community College which, I was informed, has 1,100 pupils after only six years in existence. It is a fine school, well-constructed and well-designed. It is not part of the legacy of the early 1980s when schools were built on a wing and a prayer and are now lethal buildings because of the poor quality of construction. Castleknock Community College had taken in children from another catchment area on the explicit commitment that it would get its desperately needed 806 square meter sports hall. Approval in principle was officially sanctioned by the Department in August but the school still cannot obtain any hard information from the Department, the Minister or anyone else.
These are realistic people. They are not stupid and know that resources have to be allocated and rationed. However, they deserve to be told the truth and to be treated as adults. They deserve a response from the Department. The issue here is the treatment of citizens, more importantly the people who give up their time for parent-teacher associations and boards of management, not to mention the teachers themselves, particularly the principals, who do not have the sort of back-up resources, in terms of secretarial staff or support systems, required to make these calls. They must deal with pupils, teachers and the basic running of a school all at once.
In Cork North-West before Christmas, I received representations with our candidate Mr. Coughlan about Aghinagh national school which has become a legend due to the poor treatment it has received. I will put into the record of the House the chronicle of events I received from the school principal, Ted Vaughan of Macroom:
In 1995, the board of management discusses the health and safety issues associated with the deterioration of the school premises. First contact made with the Department of Education. On 10 December 1997, a deputation from the board and the parents' association meets the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Martin. On 5 March 1998, during the Adjournment debate on the issue, Deputy Martin states: "I accept that there is a long-term accommodation problem for two classrooms." He also states: "It is not acceptable that children should have to accept such conditions." 13 August – the planning process has begun, a site is chosen. 21 December – after a year and a half's delay, planning permission is finally applied for by the Department of Education and Science. This delay included a nine-month wait to have a percolation test done. 15 March 2001, planning permission is finally received. The delay in issuing planning permission was on the part of the Department, not Cork County Council. July 2001, the Office of Public Works purchases the site for a new school. 8 October, officials of the Southern Health Board officially classify the school as substandard. 12 December, a delegation from the school meets Deputy Woods. No commitment given or response received, to date, resulting from that meeting. [Perhaps the Minister could respond to this.] General Semiconductor, a company in the area, donates funds to the school building project before departing from the community with the loss of 700 jobs. 18 January 2002, a delegation from the school meets Deputy Martin, who agrees to pursue the issue. It goes on.
A similar litany could be provided for many of the 850 schools on that list. My colleague, Deputy Shortall, accompanied me, during a visit to her constituency, to the Mater Christi school which is in dire need of additional funds and requires a response. There is a most aggravating common thread running through all the visits I have made. What is it about this Minister and this Depart ment that makes them incapable of giving to the citizens of this State the sort of transparent treatment which has now become the law of the land in relation to many other aspects of the operation of our society?
In support of Deputy Rabbitte's comments, it is an incredible indictment of the administration and management of the country's finances that a Government which inherited a surplus of unprecedented proportions and an unprecedented set of economic statistics should be leaving office in May with the treasury of the Department of Finance effectively mined and a Department of Education and Science incapable of telling anybody where a school is on the list because the Minister has been allocated so little money, he is embarrassed to outline the true position.
If Deputy Quinn is not careful he will end up with a Cork accent and that does not go down too well in Dublin at times.
The Deputy's colleague might have me expelled on the basis that I am an asylum seeker.
No. The Deputy is always welcome. I wish to thank the Minister for recent announcements on capital investment projects in Cork North-Central, my own constituency, in particular Riverstown national school where approval was recently given for a new school building.
Did the Deputy get a good news letter?
The people are very appreciative. I stress that because there is a misconception in the Opposition commentary. The facts and figures speak for themselves. The Government has undertaken the largest capital investment programme in the history of the State. Last year the Department approved over 1,400 capital grants for primary schools and that was up from 800 the previous year. In 1997, 450 capital projects were approved. Those figures speak volumes for the efforts made by the Government to bring forward the capital programme about which we are now talking.
For many years we were coming from a low base and everybody would acknowledge that for decades investment was not put into the capital side of primary education. Some schools around the country were in a poor state but it must be acknowledged that this Government is now addressing the issue. The INTO produced a list of schools it considers to be sub-standard and, in most cases, the Government dealt with them, a fact acknowledged by Senator O'Toole and an indication of the Department's commitment.
People are passionate about education and about their children being in a proper and modern school environment. Teachers are also passionate about their work and are entitled to work in modern complexes. We must continually improve and move forward to ensure that the commitments we make are backed up by funding. The figures are there to show we are doing that and the education budget has been massively increased over the years. Nobody should make accusations against the Minister in regard to delays. For years projects were not given the go-ahead and people were knocking on doors to get sanction to move to the initial stages of developments. Staff in the Department have come in for unfair criticism in this House and I take exception to that. I have always found them courteous, able and willing to assist public representatives, boards of management and principals and I compliment them on that.
It is timely that we address the fact that there is a demographic change in the make up of Irish society. The movement away from rural areas towards urban areas must be addressed. The Department must look at county development plans and assess where population demands will be. Years ago I remember fighting for a second level school in Glanmire which again was sanctioned by a Fianna Fáil-led Government. The problem was that the population had increased dramatically and we were just playing catch-up at that stage. We need to look at the demographic issue and if county councils bring forward a county development plan indicating where populations will be based, the Department should take that into account.
This Government has been totally committed to the capital projects in primary education, a fact which is very evident when a person drives around the country and sees the number of building projects completed or under way.
Cuireann sé áthas orm seans a bheith agam cuidiú leis an athrún atá faoi bhráid na Dála ón Rialtas um thráthnóna. My colleague, the Minister for Education and Science has already outlined to this House, the record achievements of this Government in improving the physical infrastructure in our education system. In fulfilment of our commitment to tackle substandard school accommodation we have, over the lifetime of this Government, progressively increased the level of capital investment in schools to the point where we now have a record number of school building projects under construction.
Deputy Creed, to judge by his opening contribution yesterday evening, does not seem to be even aware of the extent of the programme being undertaken by the Government. He speaks of a survey relating to 75 schools with inadequate facilities as if, somehow, the problem could be completely resolved if these were dealt with. He forgets that there are 3,300 primary schools in Ireland, more than 50% of which are two-teacher schools, giving a choice of location and the opportunity to young children to attend school in their local area.
Deputy Creed conveniently ignores the fact that the number of major building projects at primary level currently under construction exceeds the number in that survey on its own and that six times that figure, or 450 school projects, are in the pipeline and undergoing architectural planning. As the Minister, Deputy Woods, indicated last night, we have also approved over 1,350 capital grants for primary schools in 2001 alone.
The Minister knows what they told him in Cahergal when he said that.
I know the Deputy had a problem finding Cahergal and the people of Cahergal will have a problem finding the Deputy so I am not worried about that.
The Minister should not let the polls go to his head.
I never worry about those matters, I let the people make their decision. In 2000, the Government approved 750 projects.
Unlike the confused Opposition, the Government has never underestimated the scale of the task facing it and the level of capital funding and other resources required to rectify decades of under-investment in school infrastructure. We have not only recognised what needs to be done but have set about doing it in a systematic way. The very notion, as implied by the Deputies opposite, that this Government is suddenly going to produce major capital projects for electoral purposes, like rabbits out of a hat, is ludicrous and betrays an abysmal lack of knowledge of the long-term planning required to put a major building project on site.
No amount of crocodile tears shed by Opposition Deputies can disguise the fact that when they were last in office their record was abysmal when it came to providing the appropriate level of resources to deal with school buildings, in particular, and education, in general. Deputy Creed indicated last night that he and his Fine Gael colleagues had "a vast array of proposals" to deal with the situation. We must examine his "vast array". It seems to consist of proposals such as public private partnerships, which are already being successfully implemented by this Government in the education area, or of proposals which demonstrate his total lack of knowledge and misunderstanding of the important task of modern school building.
We already have PPP projects which have been brought to construction in record time at a cost of €81.5 million which will cater for 3,500 pupils. There are many more projects in the pipeline. How Deputy Creed can deduce from this that the Department of Education and Science is reluctant to embrace the concept of PPPs is quite mystifying. Indeed, I might add that no PPP projects involving schools were ever initiated by Deputy Creed's party or the other Opposition parties when they were in office, despite the fact that the concept of funding educational projects in this way was already a reality at that time in many countries outside of Ireland.
Deputy Creed speaks of the use of generic designs which are, of course, a good idea. Generic designs have been used successfully in the past and are currently used, as appropriate, on primary schools designed in-house in the Department. Measures are being developed to further extend their use. However, because the majority of major primary school building projects involve the upgrading of existing accommodation and the provision of an extension, the use of generic designs is not technically feasible in all cases. They are much more suitable for new schools on greenfield sites.
Deputy Creed also mentioned design and build contracts, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of all school building projects are already designed and built by private sector design teams and private sector building contractors. The Department and the Minister are in favour of the elimination of bureaucracy as called for by Deputy Creed. The Minister, Deputy Woods, outlined in detail last night the measures already in place in this area and the proposals being developed through the use of new technology.
I knew that the Minister of State would get to that.
Deputy Creed said the Department's only role would be to establish standards and conditions, a claim which begs a simple question. Whose role is it to manage the dispersal of funds to individual projects and to ensure value for money? Is the question of ensuring value for taxpayers' money an irrelevancy, as it seems to be with so many proposals emanating from Deputy Creed's party these days, a trait typical of their last performances in Government.
Contrary to what the Opposition has been trying to claim over the past two nights, there are no easy solutions to the provision of improved school accommodation on a nation-wide scale. It requires a sustained input of financial and other resources—
The Minister of State should admit that the Government has failed.
The Deputy should look at the figures.
—administered in a programmed and systematic way. This Government has delivered those resources consistently. We have the resolve and determination to see the job through to completion and will continue with it in the exciting and positive years ahead.
This Government will not be here to see that.
The Deputy is dreaming.
I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution to the debate. I compliment the Minister for what he has done regarding the Department's operations, which as the Minister realised when he took office were in need of reform. I congratulate the Minister and the Secretary General of the Department, Mr. John Dennehy, on carrying out a review of the Department's operations. Mr. Sean Cromien was asked to review the Department's operations, systems and staffing needs. The Minister has expressed his concerns about the need for a local services network, a matter on which recommendations have been made by Mr. Cromien.
The phrase used by Mr. Cromien about the Department was that "the urgent drives out the important", a phrase much quoted in the media. However, that phrase also shows that there was a lot of day-to-day work within the Department and that there was a need to look at long-term strategic thinking. That is one of the reasons Mr. Cromien referred to the planning and building unit of the Department as an area that should be looked at.
Obviously, one of the reasons for this workload is that we have had increased funding for capital purposes in the Department, and credit goes to the Minister and his officials for that. Mr. Cromien recommended in particular that the building unit should become an executive agency with a national remit to handle the construction and modification of schools. This, he said, would free the Department from the present heavy operational burden in this area, allowing it to focus on policy monitoring and evaluation. The Minister delivered on that when he announced a framework of regional offices for the Department of Education and Science.
The Department is obviously very busy; it is also very centralised and there is a need for a presence around the country. This has been commented on by the Minister on a number of occasions. The Department is in contrast with other service Departments where there is more of a local presence, for example, in the areas of agriculture, health and social welfare. It is important and welcome to have local offices as the Minister intends and, in particular, to move towards a one-stop-shop approach for educational services as recommended by Mr. Cromien. With the work in the area of special educational officers, the proposed educational welfare officers, those dealing with adult education under the stewardship of the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy O'Dea, and with the number of psychologists available, there is a need for this type of one-stop-shop.
I want to deal briefly with the INTO survey. The INTO list of 73 schools referred to schools in the constituency of Galway East which I represent with my colleagues. Brownsgrove, Moyglass and other schools were mentioned. Many of the problems raised by the INTO, such as heating and washing facilities, have been addressed through the devolved grant. A situation has arisen over the years in which 165 schools have been highlighted by the INTO, so some must have come off the list. However, we hope that the Minister will be able to provide funding for the schools on that list which are regarded as substandard.
While I am speaking about schools, I should mention the Minister's allocation of grants to the board of management of St. Cuan's national school in my own village of Castleblakeney. This is evidence of the Minister's commitment. St. Cuan's is a school with just 200 pupils and the Minister has also made that type of commitment at second level to small vocational schools and lay schools, where there is a viable school and, in many cases, a stand-alone school. The Minister has also shown his commitment to small primary schools with the amount of activity now occurring in the Department.
I hope the Minister continues with the work he is doing. I understand he is aware of the difficulties in the structure and staffing of the Department and is working on that. His announcements give me the impression that he has the confidence to continue with the school building projects which are now with the Department.
I thank the Minister for his very comprehensive reply to the motion tabled by the Opposition in relation to this matter. We must recognise reality and the Minister's speech clearly recognises there has been an exponential increase in the scale, scope and cost of school building in recent years. That is as it should be and the Minister and his predecessor embarked on a comprehensive programme of upgrading existing schools and developing new schools.
As a representative of a growing area, I have had first-hand experience of dealing with the Minister and his officers in relation to this matter. I congratulate his officers for the courtesy and patience with which they deal with representations from so many members of the public about the development of new school projects. With a big increase in population in suburban areas, and a big influx of population into the country, huge challenges are being posed for the primary and secondary level systems in education. It is very important that we devise a structured way of responding to the increase in needs.
All of this has happened at a time when we have seen substantial withdrawal of the traditional religious interests from education, both at primary and secondary level. It is important that the Minister takes command of the administrative system in his Department, which has been short-staffed in the past and has not had the capacity to deal with the huge increase in demand. When the amount of investment outlined in the Minister's speech and the scale and number of the projects, it is a remarkable credit to the Department that it has brought matters along to such an extent.
In terms of future funding, it is important that we get the public private partnership system on the rails as far as primary and second level developments are concerned because we need some way of funding this vast increase in capital investment. That is the obvious way forward and anything that can be done to progress that system is welcome. I could mention a litany of projects in my constituency. At present, there are three national schools being developed in my constituency – parish schools at Clonee and at Diswellstown and an "educate together" school at Castleknock. The Minister has been very supportive of these projects and I am anxious to progress them as rapidly as possible.
However, to progress these projects, we need more extensive use of the public private partnership approach. I also urge the Minister to look at the question of the sports hall provision. An important initiative was announced a number of years ago and these plans are now coming to fruition. In funding terms, they will require more public private partnerships. These are important developments. It is important we plan for education in a structured way because one of the difficulties I see emerging with increasing parental choice under the Education Act is that we are going to have to respond to that increased demand for a diversity of educational type and invest in the necessary school buildings to afford it.
I commend the Minister for outlining the position to the House. No Government, irrespective of who is in office, would be able to fund in a single year the amount of projects this Administration has got up and running. It is a tremendous tribute to this Administration. What we are looking at is a record schools building programme moving to a much higher level of intensity than has ever been seen before. I have full confidence in the Government that it will find the necessary finance through more flexible financial instruments to advance these most important projects.
Like previous speakers, I compliment the Minister and his officials in the Department. I am sure compliments were paid to the Minister when he visited the Limerick West constituency on Friday last to open a state-of-the-art school. I understand another invitation will be sent to the Department shortly inviting the Minister to visit again because there will be another official opening of a state-of-the-art school in the constituency.
He will be gone.
There is no fear of that. He will not be gone. The Deputy must not have looked at the opinion poll results.
The Minister is only providing money in constituencies in which there is the chance of winning a seat.
The motion tabled by Fine Gael is trying to contend that the Government is not committed to a higher standard of education. I do not agree with the contention of the Fine Gael party that this Government is not committed to a strong building and refurbishment programme at primary and second level schools. The Government's commitment is matched by a strong commitment to improving education standards.
Before talking in greater detail about the specifics of this Government's schools building programme, I would like to make some general comments about improvements which have been made to the education system since the Government came into office in the summer of 1997. The schools information technology programme has made a major impact in our schools and has brought the information age into our classrooms. This is one of the largest initiatives of its type in the world and there are now over 60,000 multi-media computers in schools.
In boxes.
The schools IT 2000 programme will bring all schools into the computer age which will play a very important part in the education of our school children who will be able to continue to effectively compete in the workplace in the coming years.
The new education technology investment fund has unprecedented Exchequer support. This is addressing severe capacity constraints at third level and is developing new areas of activities in third level institutions where emerging skills needs have already been identified. In response to the report of the expert group on future needs, 5,400 third level places in the engineering and computer hardware and software areas have been created. We have also ensured the vibrancy of work outside the sciences by establishing the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
We have also cut pupil-teacher ratios to the lowest level in our history and having already more than doubled teacher training places, we have pledged to ensure that teaching support problems do not occur. The Government has established a Teaching Council whose function is to promote higher standards for first and second level teachers. A revised primary curriculum was launched in September 1999, representing the first significant revision of the primary curriculum in almost 30 years. This Government is to continue to provide funding for a series of initiatives, including the early school leavers initiative and the stay in school initiative to identify and help children aged eight to 15 who are at risk of dropping out of school or being caught in the cycles of disadvantage.
The Government has extended the remedial teachers service to all primary schools with effect from September 1999 and the home school community liaison service to all primary schools with disadvantaged status. It has also established a special needs education forum and is committed to promoting higher standards of adult education. No Government can match our record of consistent investment and development of new policies to address educational disadvantage.
It is to this latter point that I turn to address some of the issues which have been raised by the Opposition as regards the Government's commitment to the schools building programme. The Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Woods, has already informed the House that 84 major primary school projects are under construction this year or are due in a matter of weeks at a cost of over €110 million. Work is proceeding on the acquisition of sites for a further 60 new primary schools. Architectural planning is continuing on over 450 major primary school building projects. Over 100 of these are at an advanced stage of the planning process at an estimated cost of €170 million. The Minister has confirmed to the House that a number of these projects will be ready to go to the tender process within the coming weeks and others will be ready later in the year. The statistics clearly spell out the commitment of this Government to improve the standard of school buildings.
The Government has committed a substantial level of finance for capital funding projects for primary and secondary school buildings. The level of capital funding in 2002 will be over €153 million for primary school buildings and €184 million for post-primary schools, totalling over €337 million. The Government is going to add to these figures projects which will be undertaken through public private partnership. I strongly support the role of public private partnership in our education system as I do in other areas of our society because the public and private sectors can work together on many issues.
I fully agree with the political programme as announced by the Minister to the House in which he stated that no other Government has matched the performance of this Administration in terms of meeting the needs of our schools for modern, state-of-the-art buildings and facilities. Notwithstanding the achievements, there is still a substantial amount of work to be done on our building programme, which must change and adapt to meet emerging curricular and other needs.
The Government is committed to addressing historical deficit in terms of our education infrastructure. We have continually allocated substantial extra funding in each of the budgets over the last number of years to improve the level and quality of our school buildings. This Government has provided almost four times as much this year as the Opposition did when in Government up to 1997 for this purpose alone. In 2001, the Government approved over 1,350 capital grants for primary schools compared to only 420 when Fine Gael was a member of the rainbow Government. Some 31 of these grants approved by the Government in 2001 exceeded over €1 million.
We cannot deny the strong challenges facing us in the future in terms of improving all schools to a higher standard. Many of the schools built in the 1970s and 1980s were low cost, high maintenance buildings that are now at the end of their natural lives and will have to be rebuilt over the coming years. I agree with the Minister when he states that the approach taken by the Opposition on these matters is too simplistic because many of the issues involved, particularly in the area of major construction projects, are quite complex. Opposition Deputies are well aware of that but they like to play politics now and again, especially when there is an up coming general election.
Many schools building projects depend on factors such as the size of the project, architectural planning, land acquisition if necessary, the granting of planning permission and the carrying out of competitive tenders and procurement procedures with prospective contractors. Notwithstanding all of these stages which must be undertaken, this Government has achieved much in this regard and far more than the Opposition achieved when in office.
I wish to share my time with Deputies Farrelly, Kenny, Neville, McGrath and Ring, the Green Party and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin.
I am glad to have the opportunity to support Deputy Creed's motion. However, I express alarm and pity at the Minister's inability to acquire sufficient funding to progress the many projects at national school level in his Department. Some of these projects have been waiting up to eight years to be progressed and not one has shown any degree of progress over the last four years. I have replies to parliamentary questions to the Minister and each one, especially since Deputy Woods took office, contains the same jargon. The same clichés are used and the only difference is the address of the particular national school.
I want to mention the deliberate failure of the Minister for Education and Science to keep the boards of management, parents associations, students, staff and elected representatives informed of the current status of individual school projects. The replies from the Department have been an insult to practically every member of the Opposition. I do not blame the Department officials but the Minister who has deliberately stifled them. What we heard from Deputy Kelleher is now out in the open. The news is beginning to filter through. At the same time as other schools projects similar to this are being told "no", letters have gone out to backbenchers telling them the news is good. It is an insult to Members of this House, and to members of the Opposition in particular, that such shenanigans are going on at official level. The Minister himself signs those letters. It is a pity that is going on and that he is playing politics with parents, boards of management, students and education.
There is only one thing this Minister is determined to do and that is break the morale of the teaching profession. He has gone a long way on this course in the past two years, facing down every action and legitimate claim of the teaching profession. Now he has advertised in the newspapers for outside people to supervise. If that is what is going to happen, it is time the teaching profession did one thing, that is teach and walk away. Parents would then realise the commitment of the teaching profession, but the Minister has broken the morale of the profession across all sections.
I have heard various backbenchers speak of the wonderful progress being made. There are 840 projects on the lists. Let me instance what is happening in one small section of the Galway East constituency where there has been no progress on a number of schools for at least eight years. One such school is St. Coleman's National School, Corofin, which was built for four teachers but now accommodates 200 students and nine teachers. Recently plans they submitted to the Department of Education and Science were rejected on the basis they were too elaborate. When I investigated the nature of the elaborate design it was that the walls were curved and it would not be possible to put up notice boards. It was just a stalling tactic by the Minister in order not to finance it. He has not the determination to do it. That galls me when I read his amendment that notes the determination of the Minister for Education and Science and the Government to continue the greatly expanding schools projects. Who could believe that?
The other schools on the list are Cappataggle National School, Ballinasloe; Ballinakill National School, Loughrea; Abbey National School, Loughrea; Duniry, Cahergal, Tuam; Labane, Ardrahan; Kilternan, Gort; Killeenadeema, Loughrea; and Ballymana, Craughwell. In that instance the only reason there was any response to my representations was that there was asbestos and under the Health and Safety Act the Department had to respond. Moyglass National School is one of those mentioned by the INTO as unsuitable for habitation. Kilcooley National School has been eight years without any progress. Newtown Girls School, Tuam; Barnadearg, Tuam and Peterswell, Gort, are all in appalling condition and in need of expansion.
We have, on the one hand, a declaration of the Minister's intention to provide resource teachers and remedial teachers but, as other people have said, we have IT resources in boxes in toilets and corridors. That is where resource teaching and remedial teaching is carried on in many of the schools I have listed.
I welcome the opportunity to support the motion tabled by Deputy Michael Creed. In our constituency there are a number of schools in similar circumstances to those mentioned by my colleagues. Meath Hill, Drumconrath, Navan has been looking for improvements for between ten and 12 years. Lismullen, Cros an Ghearlaigh has been looking for improvements to move chil dren out of dilapidated prefabricated buildings. The Department continues to tell them they must wait to see what kind of school is to be built in the new area of Johnstown where there are 2,000 houses. That is the excuse being given to pupils, teachers and parents of Lismullen Primary School in Navan.
Cortown, a very old school built in the 1930s, includes a number of prefabricated buildings which are unacceptable as a place to teach children. The Department has offered a new prefabricated building when the school was built more than 60 years ago. The school at Clonard, on the road to the west, which many Ministers from the west pass on a daily basis, was built in 1910. Government backbenchers referred to schools that needed to be repaired in the 1970s. That school, built in 1910, has two classrooms. I took the opportunity to take a photograph which the Minister might like to look at – I will pass it to him later. There are only two toilets for the use of 35 boys and only two for the use of 40 girls. That is an indictment of a Government that had more money to provide proper educational facilities than any Government in the history of the State. There are seven computers in one room in that school, only two of which can be switched on at the same time because to switch on more would overload the wiring. They have been informed by an electrician that it would be unsafe to plug all of the computers in at once, that it could lead to a fire. However, the Minister tells us that this school, and many others that I have mentioned, are proper schools with proper accommodation where children can be taught.
We listened on numerous occasions to the Minister of State telling us what people are entitled to and what the Opposition should and should not do. I challenge the Minister of State to go to the school in Clonard. About 200 people attended a public meeting there looking for the right to have their children taught in proper and not sham facilities, for which Ministers will be indicted in the next six or eight weeks when they go to the country looking for support.
That school is within 20 miles of where the Minister for the Environment and Local Government lives. I wonder whether he has been at Cabinet for the past five years. Does he even know where the Cabinet room is when funds are being allocated? Nothing is happening in respect of the schools I have mentioned – Clonard, Meath Hill, Lismullen and Ratoath. The bottom line is that it is an indictment of the Minister that children have to put up with such facilities.
After discussing the matter with those involved in education, I would like to recommend the removal of the 10% local contribution, which is a burden on small schools, in particular, where only a small number of parents send their children, requiring them to make a very high level of contributions for facilities as a result. With the streamlining of building provision in the Department of Education and Science, delivery time for new buildings should be reduced. Grant assistance should be made available to local contractors to build many of the extensions under consideration. The timescale under the old system in the Department is too long.
The Minister for Education and Science has an enormous number of schools on his desk: Gortjordan – which won the community award some years ago, Parke national school, St. Patrick's national school, Scoil Raiftirigh, Gaelscoil na Cruaiche, Westport, Carrowkennedy national school, Cooneal national school, Ballina, where the buckets are on the floor every time it rains and Cornanool national school outside Castlebar, my alma mater, where I went to school in my bare feet under the watchful eye of the late John Egan, a man who sent writers and poets all over the world.
He would be very proud today.
The difference between the cost of the renovations proposed and a new school is only €17,000. I spoke to the Minister personally about this last week when he reopened Carraholly national school outside Westport. I explained that he should look after this school because it is the place where I learned to read and write. As a ministerial concession, he should decide that a new school will be built there.
We have heard the responses to matters raised on the Adjournment in recent weeks and they all state the same – that projects are now progressing to architectural planning and construction. This seems to be how all questions about school development are answered.
In my area several schools are in need of improvement. Pallaskenry national school has ongoing difficulties and been identified by the INTO as severely substandard. Pupils are cared for in two classrooms in totally unsuitable prefabricated buildings, where the remedial and resource teachers also work. When purchased the plan was to use the buildings for eight years, but they have been in use for 17. This is unfair to teachers, who cannot work properly in such conditions, and pupils, whose education is being inhibited as a result. The external walls of the rooms are rotting and there is dry rot in the classrooms. I saw the school using scaffolding poles to ensure the roof did not fall in on the pupils. Classes must be taken outdoors in warm weather and the rooms are intensely cold in winter.
Kilfinane national school was also nominated by the INTO as substandard. A year ago I raised the situation in the school on the Adjournment and was given the same reply as I received in a parliamentary question today. There has been no movement in construction for the school in the past year. The existing building dates back to 1909 and the school is housed in a converted church. It consists of six small classrooms, three of which are only 35 square metres. There is a tiny ancillary room which is used as a library and a tiny office and cloakroom. There is a small central area accessible from the classroom, but no staff room and the toilets are outdoors. The playing space outside is very limited. In addition, three of the classrooms are seven metres by five metres and house classes of up to 30 pupils. The partitions between the classrooms are wafer thin boards, but, in spite of all these complaints, there has no been no improvement in 12 months.
Scoil Naisiúnta Droim Trasna in Mainistir na Féile has two prefabricated rooms and the main building an asbestos roof. It is totally unsuitable. It is accepted that a new school should be constructed. This was a two teacher school in 1980, but now caters for seven teachers and 140 pupils. The parish purchased the outgoing land for €30,000 on the understanding that the school would be built immediately. I ask the Minister to ensure work is commenced on the school as quickly as possible.
Cappagh national school is in urgent need of extension. The classrooms are overcrowded and the conditions for teachers and pupils are unacceptable. Will the Minister please move on these four schools – Pallaskenry, Kilfinane, Scoil Naisiúnta Droim Trasna and Cappagh?
I am disappointed that the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Woods, is not present for this debate. It is indicative of the manner in which he treats his portfolio. He cannot be bothered to listen to the full debate on one of the most important matters in education. It is only three hours, but he cannot be here.
We are at crisis point. There are 850 schools waiting for major extensions or reconstruction and here we are on the eve of a general election discussing them. Looking back over the record of the House, there have been endless questions about schools and Adjournment debate after Adjournment debate about the matter, but what do we get from the Minister? A very poor response – the same speeches and statements churned out time after time and no real action. Where are we in these schools? It will take €250 million a year for the next ten years to deal with the school system and provide new schools and extensions.
If we are to give our young people the facilities they need and deserve, there will have to be a radical approach. We should go further down the road of public-private partnership arrangements. Five schools are being provided under that process. Let us extend it in order that more of the schools needed can be looked after.
There are myriad schools which require construction work. Within a stone's throw of my office in Mullingar there is the CBS with its leaking roofs. On wet days they put out buckets to catch the water and the walls are dripping. A school designed for 300 pupils now has an enrolment of 620. Is this acceptable? Stage four and five drawings were submitted to the Department in May last year, but there has been no progress.
Loreto College, Mullingar, has submitted plans for a major extension, but what has happened? Very little. Mullingar community college has been told for the last seven years that it will get a new gym, but the Department is in the process of designing a protocol for gymnasiums across the State and so nothing has happened.
Coláiste Cionn Torc is the college to which the Taoiseach headed to cut the sod in Castlepollard. It was a wet and windy day and there was no sod cutting. I do not know if the weather had an effect, but the real reason for the cancellation was that the money had not been sanctioned by the Department and he could not proceed. Construction was announced several times by Senators from the constituency, but nothing happened.
Correllstown national school was told in 1998 that it would get a new school. The local community raised money for the local contribution, obtained planning permission and a site. They were told recently that they might be in the school in five years time. Is this acceptable? Outdoor toilets are outrageous and unacceptable. I will discuss this matter later on the Adjournment. Dysart National School was promised new facilities but no progress has been made. Planning permission was sought for the Gaelscoil in Mullingar and everything was ready and waiting, yet there was no progress from the Minister. I am glad the Minister has arrived in the Chamber at last to hear the debate.
I have been here all day and was here yesterday, also. The Deputy should get his facts right.
The Minister has an important job to do concerning these schools and I am glad he is here to hear all about them. I hope that once in his life the Minister will turn up for the Adjournment Debate tonight. He failed to appear for previous debates on the Adjournment, so let us see him here tonight.
I support the motion. Like many other Members of the House, I have often raised on the Adjournment the issue of schools. So many schools are affected in County Mayo that I would not have time to list them all. A number of weeks ago, I tabled a parliamentary question to obtain a breakdown of the schools in Mayo, but I am still waiting for that reply. Will the Minister get his officials to reply to that question immediately? I wrote to the Department of Education and Science last August and it took about 12 months to get a reply. That is why we have to table parliamentary questions.
It is an outrage that some 850 school projects are awaiting funding. I compliment the Govern ment on its answer which is typical – it has now engaged new consultants to see if there is another problem. The Government has spent €300 million on consultants but how many schools would that build in Mayo, Meath, Limerick and elsewhere? Consultancy is the new business. The 1916 Proclamation spoke of cherishing all the children of the nation equally, yet at a time when there has never been so much money available, children around the country are attending schools in terrible conditions. It is not right for teachers to have to work in such conditions, either. This the only Government that has had surpluses to spend, yet it gave the money to bookies, race courses and jockeys. Now the Government will also reward sportsmen and women who do not do a great deal for this country. At the same time, children are arriving at school wet and returning home in the evening wet, also. They have to wear their coats in school to keep warm. How can the Minister and the Government stand over such a situation and allow it to happen?
I am asking the Minister to approve all the schools in my constituency that have been awaiting approval. Last week the Minister appeared in my town, Westport, and I have to admit that if there is one thing he is good at it is singing. I heard him singing "Danny Boy" on the radio.
That was by public demand.
I want to hear the Minister singing "approval" for all the schools, rather than "Danny Boy". The Minister is a lovely singer but we in County Mayo want to hear Abba's song "Money, money, money".
Given the condition of many of our schools, "Away in a manger" might be more appropriate.
If it has to be an Abba song, the Minister should sing "Waterloo".
I support Deputy Creed's motion. In recent months I have received more letters about delays in necessary improvements and building works for primary and secondary schools than on any other issue. With 850 schools awaiting sanction, however, that is no surprise. The most persistent pressure recently has come from the Pope John Paul II National School in North County Dublin, which has more than 598 pupils on the roll but has had no general purpose or PE hall for the past two years. The requirements of special needs pupils there have been put at risk or sacrificed because of inadequate accommodation. Extra staff at the school will have nowhere to work even though the posts have been sanctioned. That type of difficulty is being created by the low priority afforded to schools and the education sector generally by the Government.
When nurses or doctors visit the school, chaos is created because no accommodation or storage facilities are available. Even the staff in that school, who number more than 30, have had to give up toilet facilities to the pupils to get by from day to day.
I have visited most of these schools and, as a former school principal, I can see that the work has changed. It has become much more difficult to be a member of a school's staff. At secondary level, schools such as Pobail Scoil Íosa are crying out for new premises, yet the Department is telling them they will have to make do with refurbishment. With 1,200 pupils in a school with a leaking flat-roof, the refurbishment option does not represent a good investment. It is bad economics and will certainly be bad from the educational point of view, especially when it will not result in any new PE or sporting facilities. A school of that size has those basic needs.
Similarly, the Loreto Convent in Balbriggan requires that type of extra accommodation. When one sees the lack of play facilities in our schools it is clear the position of the Minister and the Government is basically unjust. They fully support projects such as Campus Ireland, or the Bertie Bowl as it is more commonly known, while many urban and rural schools in North County Dublin are left without halls and PE facilities. That demonstrates the Government's peculiar set of priorities.
Schools such as Hedgestown National School, Corduff National School, and my own former school, St. George's, are all told to manage without any PE facilities in wet and cold weather. That is a basic injustice and represents a lack of priority by the Government for the most basic needs. Hedgestown National School was promised a new premises but it seems that all bets are off. This is an absolute disgrace to a rural community in which the school is a key facility. Likewise, Corduff National School, in common with many others that have lost FÁS assistants, does not have the necessary money because it does not have sufficient pupils on the roll to pay for a caretaker, even with the allowance that is provided.
The Department of Education and Science needs to be restructured and it needs a new Minister who will become a champion of education, obtaining sites from local authorities for extra schools that are needed. Scoil Bhóroimhe, the gaelscoil in Swords, is situated in a sports club facility rather than in a designated school building. God help our schools and children if this Government is re-elected.
I strongly support the motion's condemnation of the Government's failure to manage the school building programme. The general secretary designate of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, Mr. John Carr, has described the primary schools' repair, refurbishment and building programme as "a complete shambles". This afternoon, my office was contacted by the principal of a school in County Cavan. It is one of the schools on the INTO's short-list of the worst primary schools in the State in terms of grossly sub-standard accommodation endured both by pupils and teachers. There are 68 pupils in three class groups, in a two classroom school. One of the classrooms is a pre-fab for which the school's insurers are now refusing to provide cover. The school's application has been with the Department of Education and Science for the past three years.
I have deliberately not named the school because it is just one example that is typical of many more throughout not only my constituency but also sadly and regrettably, as many other Deputies have outlined, throughout the jurisdiction. What message does this send to our children when we as a society can construct luxury homes at the top end of the market in unprecedented numbers, hotels on a scale never before seen in this country, and palatial new buildings for financial institutions? Yet, the buildings in which we educate our children are neglected and dilapidated. This is a shame and a disgrace. We need radical action now to shake up the entire system of delivering the schools building programme. Even at this late hour, I appeal to the Minister to do something in the remaining weeks of this Administration. The children of this nation demand and deserve nothing less.
The Government has never denied that many primary schools are in need of refurbishment and upgrading. However, the protestations of the Opposition ring hollow when a comparison is made between the progress achieved by this Government and its efforts when it was last in office.
The Minister is like a long playing record.
It is a long playing Fine Gael record that says, "There was no money there in 1997 and there is ten times more money there now".
It is all about the money, Minister.
Please allow the Minister to continue without interruption.
The problem of poor school accommodation did not arise overnight and it is disingenuous, if not downright dishonest, of the Opposition to imply that it can be solved instantly. It can only be resolved by sustaining the current high levels of expenditure over a period of several more years, a measure to which the Government is committed.
That is rubbish. The budget for next year is slashed.
The capital funding in 2002 for primary and post-primary education is four times the 1997 level. While this level of funding is unprecedented, it clearly cannot address all the problems that have been identified. That will be the challenge of next year and succeeding years. I reiterate that the Government intends that all of those projects currently in architectural planning will proceed to construction in an orderly way as part of the expanded building programme. The Department of Education and Science will assess major projects for funding having regard to a clear order of priority. Much is being done to improve the position in a substantial number of schools and this has even been acknowledged by Senator Joe O'Toole who is no fan of the Government. However, much remains to be done and the Government will continue with the task it has set itself until the problem of substandard school accommodation has been permanently resolved.
The parties opposite paid lip service to this issue when in office and are now engaged in empty bombast. By contrast, we have delivered and go on delivering. We have continued to provide increased funding which has made a real difference. Let there be no doubting our resolve to deal with those matters. Our track record over the past five years demonstrates the seriousness with which we view this area of public policy. This year's school building construction programme will be the most substantial in the history of this State. We will continue to advance other much-needed projects through the design and planning process to the point where they will be ready to form the construction programmes of the future. We are engaged in prudent management and forward planning. The difference is that the Opposition talks about it and looks for headlines. We get on with it and deliver and make a real difference.
The Government has had five years.
Am I allowed to make my contribution a Cheann Comhairle?
The Minister of State has the floor.
The windows are falling out.
I heard Deputy Paul McGrath calling for expenditure of €250 million per annum for the next ten years. Is the Deputy not aware of the fact that the Government will incur expenditure of €340 million this year? I am shocked by the sheer incompetence and ineptitude of the Opposition, particularly the main Opposition party, which does not seem to have the slightest grasp of the basic essentials of the school building programme. This incompetence has not happened in a vacuum; it is part of the general malaise affecting the main Opposition party, the malaise that triggered the panic which caused the knee-jerk change of leadership last year when they dumped John Bruton and put in Michael "if I won the lotto" Noonan. When Deputy Noonan was staking his claim—
The Minister of State is very good at this, but who is the real Limerick man?
—to the leadership of Fine Gael, he promised that his front bench would be a meritocracy comprising the brightest and the best in Fine Gael. I have listened to the contributions to this debate and if Deputy Creed, as spokesman on education, is the brightest and best Fine Gael has to deal with this vital area of public service, then all I can say is that, sadly, the second-largest party in this country must be in terminal decline.
Deputy O'Dea hurls insults better than anyone else in the Dáil.
I wish to share my time with Deputies Flanagan, Deenihan and Creed. I regret having to follow Deputy O'Dea because he sounded fairly convincing and it is not in my nature to attack the Government, but I found it difficult to listen to him. I do not know how Deputy O'Dea can be expected to put windows and doors in classrooms when he cannot put them in school buses.
I did a lot more for school buses than the party opposite.
Representatives of the Minister of State's own school are outside the gates.
The Deputy should look after his own constituency.
A Cheann Comhairle, a minute of my time has elapsed listening to Deputy O'Dea. The Minister is well aware of the list of schools in Wicklow that need attention. Lacken primary school is one of the schools listed as condemned. There was a recent newspaper article about the gaelscoil in Wicklow town where classes are held in a funeral parlour. We have always prided ourselves on our education system but our educational facilities are in very poor condition.
I have tabled parliamentary questions over the past few months and I get the same rote answer every time that everything is on hold. I ask the Minister to tell us what is happening. Every school in the country cannot be at the same stage and we would appreciate the information. The Minister should not try to be all things to all people.
Our system is archaic. It takes almost five years for a school to be built. There should be a more up to date system for the implementation of the building programme. Some speakers referred to the public private partnership and I am aware that the Minister has sanctioned some schools. I am aware that other schools have applied, including a school in Woodbrook in Bray, which is in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown constituency.
I wish to draw the Minister's attention to the issue of school caretakers. They are poorly paid and have a difficult job to do and I ask the Minister to examine their conditions of employment. I also urge him to inform the vocational education committees and the boards of management of the timetable for the building works.
The contribution of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dea, might have been amusing if it were not for the fact that 300 pupils from his alma mater in Ballyfin, County Laois, had to resort to the ultimate tactic of demonstrating outside Leinster House because of the Government's performance in relation to the school. That speaks volumes about Deputy O'Dea and the Minister, Dr. Woods, sitting beside him.
The counties of Laois and Offaly have been officially confirmed as the poorest in the country, thanks to the neglect of the current Government. Unemployment is higher than the national average and third level educational attainment is bottom of the league in terms of participation rates. If poverty and disadvantage is to be tackled, education must be prioritised. A greater level of investment is needed in the areas of greatest demand. Sadly, that does not apply to the counties of Laois and Offaly. The greatest demand for improved primary education, buildings and facilities is in the Laoighis-Offaly constituency. I wish to remind the Minister about Portlaoise because he does not remember his visit there or, if he does, he certainly did not act on it.
The Deputy should read my speech.
New sites are needed for Scoil Chríost Rí, Sacred Heart primary school and Saint Paul's primary school. The Minister would not even appoint a co-ordinator in his Department to deal with the matter, such is his inertia.
It is gone beyond that stage.
An extension is badly needed in Scoil Bhríde, Knockmay but there is no sign of it. A new school building has been promised for Maryborough national school but there has been no progress under the Government. In Rathdowney in south County Laois, the amalgamation of Scoil Bhríde was announced by his predecessor and the school buildings are at either end of the town with nothing in terms of services or planning. The Church of Ireland school in Rathdowney is old and unsuitable but there has been no action on the part of the regime of Woods and O'Dea, the Laurel and Hardy duo. The story is the same in Mountrath where Clonenagh must be updated to meet the requirements of modern-day education. In south County Laois, Graiguecullen and Killeshin are rapidly-growing areas on the perimeter of Carlow town. School extension applications have been with the Department for years but there is no reply from the Minister. The extension to Camross national school in the Slieve Bloom mountains is moving along at a pace that would do justice to a snail. County Offaly has the worst record in terms of educational facilities under the current Government. The parents of the children in Lumcloon national school took them out after Christmas because of the decrepit facilities. Charleville national school in Tullamore has the same story as has Lusmagh national school on the banks of the Shannon, near the constituency of my colleague, Deputy Ulick Burke.
It is worse.
There has been no progress in Clareen national school in Birr under this regime. The application for Pollagh national school, located in a rural area near Ferbane, is gathering dust in the Department's building in Tullamore. If Charles Dickens appeared in Laoighis-Offaly tomorrow he would say nothing has changed since the time he was writing in Britain. Last week Prince Charles paid a quasi-royal visit to this country. If his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, had accompanied him she would have said that the schools in Laoighis-Offaly had not changed since she reigned in Britain more than 100 years ago.
The Minister of State, Deputy O'Dea, referred to the inactivity of successive Governments. However, no previous Government had such wealth at its disposal and never before has a Government delivered so little to the people who are most deserving or squandered an economic boom in such a comprehensive manner. The parents, students and children of Laoighis-Offaly are suffering as a result. It is time for the general election and for the Government to step aside.
In Limerick they are good at throwing around rugby balls but the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dea, would take the biscuit for throwing insults. He is very good at it but he will not ever become a senior Minster. When Deputy Creed's father was a junior Minister in the Department of Education between 1983 and 1987, he sanctioned 25 projects for County Kerry, including every project that we needed.
The following projects are at different stages of planning in the Department: a new primary school at Lissataggle, Tralee; a new primary school at Blennerville, Tralee; a new primary school and secondary school at Ballybunion; an extension at Castleisland community school; an extension to the all-Irish school at Moyerwell, Tralee; an extension at Currans national school, where the conditions are deplorable; an extension to Kilconly national school, Ballybunion; an extension to Lixnaw national school; an extension to Kilflynn national school; an extension to my local school, Killocrin national school; an extension to Balloonagh national school; a new gaelscoil for Listowel; and an extension to Presentation primary school, Listowel.
When Deputy O'Rourke was Minister for Education she said she wanted to get rid of portakabins but they are back again in County Kerry and are everywhere on school grounds. Other projects being undertaken by the Department include the Nano Nagle school for the handicapped at Listowel. I am attending a 25th anniversary mass at the school on Friday. The school moved into its present building approximately ten years ago and was promised an extension that was to have become a centre for autism in County Kerry. However, there are no facilities for autistic children in the county. There is no policy and no audit. Nobody knows how many autistic children are in the county. The centre was promised but it has not been provided.
Only three primary schools in County Kerry have a gymnasium where physical education can be undertaken. As a former physical education teacher, I know the value of PE in schools. Some 76% of schools in the country have no physical education facilities. The Government will stand indicted for that. An article in yesterday's Evening Herald considered the growing number of people in the country with weight problems. The Government's failure to deliver physical education facilities is contributing to it.
The electorate will decide who will form the next Government. My party leader, Deputy Noonan, is a constituency colleague of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dea. As a former teacher he understands education and he will deliver.
The people do not think he will deliver.
The Government inherited a booming economy from the rainbow coalition Government. It has prioritised the rich but this has failed the education system. Everybody must go through primary school and the only way equality can be promoted is through providing equal facilities and opportunities in primary education but the Government has ignored this.
I thank my party colleagues, Deputies Burke, Farrelly, Clune, Gerry Reynolds, Naughten, Brian Hayes, Finucane Kenny, McGrath, Neville, Ring, Timmins, Flanagan and Deenihan, Labour Party Deputies Shortall, Moynihan-Cronin, Wall, Quinn, Rabbitte, Sinn Féin Deputy Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin and the Green Party Deputy Sargent for their support for this motion. It appears there are no difficulties in the schools in the constituencies of the Independent Deputies.
Last night I referred to the need to publish data bases to ensure that people would know the exact status of all 850 school projects awaiting progress in the Minister's Department. In this respect the Minister has, at the least, been economical with the truth and, at worst, has misled the House. On 19 February I asked him if, in connection with Aghina national school in my constituency, his Department has received all outstanding information requested regarding projected enrolments at the school and the situation regarding the provision of a new school in view of the information provided. He replied:
My Department has recently received, from the management authorities of the school referred to by the Deputy, detailed information regarding enrolment and demographic trends, housing and birth statistics for the area concerned. This information is currently being assessed in the planning section of my Department. A report in the matter has been sought from the inspector for the area.
On receipt and consideration of this report, a decision will be made on how best the accommodation needs of the school should be addressed. The school board of management will be advised of the decision at the earliest possible date.
Your job is to protect Members of this House and their interests. Two days earlier the Minister had written to my constituency colleague, Deputy Donal Moynihan as follows:
Dear Donal
Thank you for your ongoing representations on behalf of Aghina National School, County Cork concerning the proposed building project at the school.
I am please to inform you that when the revised mechanical and electrical element of the stage 4/5 submission from the school's design team has been approved by my Department the project will proceed to tender.
The Minister stands guilty as accused of deliberately massaging the 850 schools on the list to politically and cynically exploit students and teachers who operate in sub-standard schools so that his party colleagues in marginal constituencies can pull a rabbit from the hat in the lead up to the general election. The Taoiseach has toured marginal constituencies and has pulled other schools out of the hat. It is disgraceful exploitation of a very difficult situation for schools.
I absolutely reject that.
It is in black and white and the Minister stands indicted. The Minister and his Minister of State are in denial of a crisis that has engulfed the school building unit in the Department.
It is a disgrace that Deputy Creed is his party's spokesperson on Education and Science.
The Minister of State, Deputy O'Dea, can do no other than resort to petty political abuse. He is the eternal bridesmaid of Fianna Fáil but never the bride. He is responsible for school transport. After the general election he will need to use public transport because he will not have a chauffeur driven car at his disposal.
My party made a number of sound proposals which I hoped would have gained support in the House as a non-adversarial forum. We seek greater use of public private partnerships, a move to design and build and a greater role for boards of management to save money.
I appreciate that and I am already undertaking these measures.
I outlined a case in my town where the Minister's inactivity will cost the taxpayers in excess of £500,000. Significant progress could be made if we reformed the way we do business and get better value for taxpayers' money.
In the lead up to the last general election Deputy Healy-Rae made great capital about a primary school in Rathmore, County Kerry. He promised everything but has delivered nothing. Where are the Independent Deputies tonight? They can make a great deal of noise outside the House but when a vote is called we will see the colour of their persuasion.
The Minister stands indicted of attempting to mislead the public. By informing the European Commission of projected expenditure in primary and post primary construction it is clear he is planning to substantially slash the school building programme for next year.
The Deputy is mixed up again. Do I have to explain it all again? The Deputy should read the speech.
He has notified the European Commission under the growth and stability pact of his proposal.
The Deputy does not understand it. He was wrong last year.
He calls it indicative of his proposal to slash the post-primary school building programme by €68 million. If ever there was a sound reason for parents, pupils and teachers to reject the policies of the Government as they relate to school buildings and to get students out of damp, overcrowded, cold, unsanitary, dilapidated, prefabricated buildings it is simply that the Minister plans, if re-elected, by virtue of what he has informed the European Commission, to slash that school building project next year.
I commend the motion to the House.
I wish to point out that the Chair has no function in relation to the content of parliamentary replies.
The Minister has misled the House.
The Chair is clarifying a point because the Deputy raised it. The Chair has no function in relation to the content of replies given to parliamentary questions or the content of ministerial letters or any other kind of correspondence.
I will be referring the contents of the Minister's reply and correspondence which he has sent to the Deputy and indirectly to the school—
The Deputy is upset because it is going ahead.
By virtue of what the Minister has said he is further—
The Deputy is upset.
I will be referring the matter to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
Amendment put.
Tá
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Ahern, Dermot.Ahern, Michael.Ahern, Noel.Andrews, David.Aylward, Liam.Blaney, Harry.Brady, Johnny.Brady, Martin.Brennan, Matt.Browne, John (Wexford).Byrne, Hugh.Carey, Pat.Collins, Michael.Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.Coughlan, Mary.Cullen, Martin.Daly, Brendan.de Valera, Síle.Dempsey, Noel.Dennehy, John.Doherty, Seán.Ellis, John.Fleming, Seán.Flood, Chris.Foley, Denis.Fox, Mildred.Gildea, Thomas.Hanafin, Mary.Harney, Mary.Haughey, Seán.Healy-Rae, Jackie.Jacob, Joe.Keaveney, Cecilia.Kelleher, Billy.Kenneally, Brendan. |
Killeen, Tony.Kirk, Séamus.Kitt, Michael P.Kitt, Tom.Lenihan, Conor.McDaid, James.McGennis, Marian.McGuinness, John J.Martin, Micheál.Moffatt, Thomas.Molloy, Robert.Moloney, John.Moynihan, Donal.Moynihan, Michael.Ó Cuív, Éamon.O'Dea, Willie.O'Donnell, Liz.O'Donoghue, John.O'Flynn, Noel.O'Hanlon, Rory.O'Keeffe, Batt.O'Keeffe, Ned.O'Kennedy, Michael.Power, Seán.Reynolds, Albert.Roche, Dick.Ryan, Eoin.Smith, Michael.Treacy, Noel.Wade, Eddie.Wallace, Dan.Wallace, Mary.Walsh, Joe.Woods, Michael.Wright, G. V. |
Níl
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Allen, Bernard.Barrett, Seán.Bell, Michael.Belton, Louis J.Bradford, Paul.Broughan, Thomas P.Browne, John (Carlow-Kilkenny).Bruton, Richard.Burke, Liam.Burke, Ulick.Carey, Donal.Clune, Deirdre.Connaughton, Paul.Cosgrave, Michael.Coveney, Simon.Crawford, Seymour.Creed, Michael.Currie, Austin.Deasy, Austin.Deenihan, Jimmy.Durkan, Bernard.Enright, Thomas.Fitzgerald, Frances.Gilmore, Éamon.Gormley, John.Hayes, Brian.Hayes, Tom. |
Healy, Seamus.Higgins, Jim.Higgins, Michael.Hogan, Philip.Howlin, Brendan.Kenny, Enda.McCormack, Pádraic.McDowell, Derek.McGinley, Dinny.McGrath, Paul.McManus, Liz.Mitchell, Gay.Moynihan-Cronin, Breeda.Naughten, Denis.Neville, Dan.Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.O'Shea, Brian.O'Sullivan, Jan.Penrose, William.Rabbitte, Pat.Ring, Michael.Sargent, Trevor.Sheehan, Patrick.Shortall, Róisín.Stagg, Emmet.Stanton, David.Timmins, Billy. |
Tellers: Tá, Deputies D. Ahern and Power; Níl, Deputies Bradford and Stagg.
Amendment declared carried.
Question, "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to" put and declared carried.