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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 4 Mar 2003

Vol. 562 No. 4

School Accommodation.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for acceding to my request to raise this matter on the Adjournment. While I do not wish to cast aspersions on the Minister of State, I am severely disappointed that the Minister for Education and Science is not in the Chamber to do his duty. He is probably traipsing around trying to bribe teachers into accepting his wishes.

Sallins is a small picturesque village on the banks of the Grand Canal. The Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, was born and reared in a lock-house near the village. No intensive growth took place there for 150 years until 1996 when the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats councillors in the area, who formed a majority on the local authority, voted to re-zone large tracts of land in the Sallins area. Builders and landowners who were friends of the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats parties made millions in Sallins and then walked away. Absolutely no provision for the educational needs of the new population was included in the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats plan. Despite a known number of children living in the area, no provision was made for their education or for their constitutional rights.

Sallins now needs a 16-classroom school. The Fianna Fáil Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Dempsey, published a work programme for 2003, but it could be more accurately described as a no-work programme. He decided that the Sallins national school building project would not make progress in 2003 and there was no guarantee it would move ahead in 2004, so it was frozen. Yet, in reply to a parliamentary question I tabled, the Minister described the project as essential. In a further reply to the House on 25 February, the Minister said there was no money for temporary school accommodation in Sallins this year. This is despite a recommendation by the school inspector that prefabs should be provided.

There is no room in adjoining schools for the extra pupils in Sallins. The building project for Sallins has been frozen and a request for prefabs has been refused. Will the Minister tell the House where he thinks the parents in Sallins, some of whom are in the Public Gallery tonight, will find school places for their children? Where does he think they will go? Does the Minister accept that he has a constitutional and legal responsibility to provide the required places for these children?

A survey by the parents' association in Sallins has shown that if current policies continue the following numbers of children will be without school places in future, as follows: 76 children in 2003, 155 in 2004, 231 in 2005, and 239 in 2006. Where will these children go to school? They have a right to attend school and the Minister has a duty to provide sufficient places for them. I demand that provision now be made for three prefabricated classrooms for Sallins national school, to be in place by September 2003 to cater for the children who are currently waiting. I also demand that construction of the required seven new classrooms at Sallins national school should be allowed to go for tender forthwith. Fianna Fáil representatives in that area should live up to their pre-election undertakings.

The Government should not claim that it does not have the money. It is a matter of priorities, of deciding what is most important. I pose the following question to the Minister for Education and Science and the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, who is a local representative for the area: which is most important, a set of new Government private jets costing €100 million, the Bertie bowl which has so far cost €300 million, a savings scheme for those who do not need it, costing €500 million per year, or the provision of basic educational facilities for our children? I would answer, if the Minister will not do so, that our children must come first so a properly equipped school must be provided in Sallins. I demand it and I will settle for no less.

I am glad the Deputy has given me the opportunity of outlining to the House, on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, the Department's current position regarding the allocation of funding for school building projects. The 2003 capital programme has been published and full details of individual projects, including schools being provided with temporary accommodation, are available on the Department's website at www.education.ie. The programme is designed to give the maximum amount of information to managers, boards of management, principals, parents and students. The criteria used for selecting projects have also been published for the first time.

This year's building programme amounts to €342.9 million, four times the amount allocated in 1997. The 2003 programme will deliver over 140 large-scale projects at primary and post-primary level. In addition, over 400 schools will benefit in some way from the capital programme and, of course, all primary schools benefit directly from the devolved grants scheme for minor works.

The budgetary allocation for 2004 and subsequent years will determine the rate of progress on projects at schools currently in architectural planning, such as Sallins national school. The management authorities at individual schools should continue to use funds from their devolved grant to deal with urgent health and safety matters.

On the immediate accommodation needs of schools, the Department of Education and Science will consider the possibility of re-allocating surplus temporary accommodation that may become available or, in the event of such suitable accommodation not being available, providing grant-aid towards the rental cost of temporary accommodation, having regard to existing demands on the rental budget and the priority to be afforded to individual schools.

The Department is prepared to consider favourably the case of Sallins national school and the Department's planning section will be in contact with the school authorities. I thank the Deputy again for giving me the opportunity of outlining the current position to the House.

Regrettably, I had to raise this matter in the House before even that half-hearted offer could be made.

I thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I ask the Minister for Education and Science to reverse his decision of last week to close St. Joseph's secondary school in Newtownforbes, County Longford. I further ask the Minister to give details of the situation regarding alternative secondary schools in the County Longford area. He should ask his Department to review the situation concerning all secondary school places in the county, especially in view of today's announcement of 600 new jobs for Longford. I welcome Abbott Healthcare to Longford. I thank the IDA, the Tánaiste and the Government for helping us to secure this employment in Longford.

I am concerned to ensure that young people who will be 12 years old and who will have completed sixth class should be enrolled in a secondary school of their choice in their catchment area. Longford is growing and will grow at a fast pace during the lifetime of this Government. We need ample educational facilities.

I thank the Minister for the facilities currently provided, but the closure of this school is causing great concern to many people in the county. We would like a review of this decision.

I welcome this opportunity on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science to outline to the House the position regarding St. Joseph's secondary school, Newtownforbes, County Longford. The school is situated approximately two and a half miles from Longford town and is one of four post-primary schools in the area. It was established in the early 1950s. It was formerly an all-girls boarding school, co-education was introduced during the 1970s and in 1989 the boarding element of the school was closed.

Enrolments at the school peaked in the early 1990s at over 450 pupils. However, ten years later there had been a steady decline in numbers to a level of 173 pupils in September 2000. Based on this pattern of decline future intakes of less than 30 pupils per annum could have been anticipated.

In December 2000, the school trustees, the Mercy Sisters of the Western Province, announced their intention to effect a phased closure of the school. They decided that closure would be on a phased basis over two school years with final closure at the end of the 2002-03 school year. Accordingly, there was no intake of first year pupils since September 2000, but all existing pupils, including the 2003 examination pupils, were facilitated in completing their junior or senior cycle, as appropriate, at the school.

Following the trustees announcement of closure, the Department received representations from a local steering committee, which was set up with a view to keeping the school open into the future. The case for the retention of this school has been ongoing for some time and has been the subject of several reviews in the Department and also by an independent facilitator.

The Minister for Education and Science met representatives of the retention committee last October and, notwithstanding all previous reviews, he undertook to have his officials again examine all the issues, including the most up to date demographic data from Census 2002, housing and planning applications data from the local authorities, pupil movement into and out of the catchment area and the capacity of the Longford town schools.

Following this review, the Minister arrived at the definitive conclusion that there is no basis for the retention of a second level school in Newtownforbes. He is satisfied that there is sufficient capacity overall in the remaining schools in the catchment area to meet the projected post-primary education needs of pupils in the Longford-Newtownforbes area.

With regard to the current situation in Longford, the Minister was made aware recently that one of the schools, Meán Scoil Mhuire, cannot accommodate a small number of pupils who are seeking admission to first year in September 2003. The Minister understands that their names are on a waiting list and the school authorities are endeavouring to facilitate as many as possible.

On the general question of the provision of school places, the Minister wishes to explain that his Department's main responsibility is to ensure that, overall, sufficient places exist at primary and post-primary level to meet demand in a given area. With regard to the situation in Longford, he acknowledges that a small number of pupils may be disappointed at not gaining access to their first choice of post-primary school. However, he is satisfied that there are sufficient pupil places available overall in the centre to meet demand based on the projected output from primary schools in the catchment area.

Enrolment trends in the Longford-Newtownforbes catchment area will be carefully monitored over the coming years. In the event that industrial and housing developments generate additional pupils in excess of existing capacity, the issue for the Department will be how to make good that shortfall within the capacity and potential of the Longford town schools. As resources permit, any requirement for capital investment will be concentrated on the Longford town schools.

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