I welcome this opportunity to deal with the broken promises of this Government in respect of the refurbishment programme at St. Killian's junior and senior schools, Kingswood. There is a huge catchment area surrounding these two schools which have been in a sad state of disrepair since the mid-1980s. In good times and bad, the essential work has not been done. Despite the recent boom period, the opportunity was not taken to provide adequate facilities for school-going children in this area.
I can best summarise the situation by referring to my statement in the Official Report of Dáil Éireann of 21 March last year, when I raised this matter by way of a formal Adjournment debate. On that occasion I stated:
The senior school was built in 1986 and has classrooms only. There is no hall and there are no specialist facilities. The junior school was built in 1979 and is in a sad state of disrepair. The entire roof, which is made of asbestos, needs to be completely replaced. There are few gutters remaining on the buildings due to van dalism. All guttering and windows need to be replaced and the entire building needs to be rewired. The senior school requires a general purposes room, servery, equipment store, library, resource area and storage, a multipurpose room, a general office, a principal's office, WC and shower facility suitable for disabled use and general utility storage. The entire building requires suitable perimeter fencing to provide security from vandalism.
That is still the situation today. The parents of the area have been waiting since 1986. As cruel fate would have it in this business, the Minister who took the Adjournment debate on that occasion was none other than the then Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey, who is now Minister for Education and Science. What did he say?
In the Dáil on 21 March 2002, he stated that "The Minister assures me that a project to refurbish St. Killian's junior and senior schools will proceed to the invitation of tenders as soon as possible under the expanded building programme." That sentence was calculatedly intended to convey to the parents of the area that the work was going to tender. That is what Deputy Dempsey said and, ironically, he is now the Minister for Education and Science.
For the nine months prior to the election, Fianna Fáil spent an unprecedented amount of money in essentially targeting my seat.