Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 21 May 2003

Vol. 567 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - School Accommodation.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise the dangerous and disgraceful circumstances and conditions that students attending Castleblayney College in County Monaghan endure while pursuing their education and the intolerable work environment that their teachers are currently forced to accept.

Is Coláiste den scoth é Coláiste Bhaile na Lurgan agus ba mhaith liom na scoláiri agus na múinteoirí a mholadh. Tá siad ag feidhmiú i gcoiníollacha an-dona ar fad. Is scanallach an rud é go bhfuil bagairt laethúil ann do shláinte agus do shábháilteacht na bpáistí. Iarraím go láidir ar an Aire gníomhú anois agus deireadh a chur leis an bhagairt seo do bheatha na scoláirí.

The country has been in uproar for some time over the broken promises of this Government with regard to the schools building programme. Hundreds of schools have been let down. In all of them conditions are unacceptable. In some the failure of Government to allow necessary work actually presents a threat to life. Castleblayney College in County Monaghan is one such case. It is no exaggeration to say that the Department of Education and Science's failure to address the needs of this college is putting the lives of children in danger. I do not make that charge lightly but do so only because it is a fact.

Castleblayney College's campus is situated on both sides of the N2, a busy national route, the main road from Dublin through County Monaghan to Derry and much of County Donegal. On the west side of the road is a school building dating from 1951 and a number of prefabs. On the east side is the 1969 building and extensions. The intention back in 1969 when the new building was completed was for the 1951 site to be vacated and the entire campus to be located on the east side. However, growing numbers of students meant that plan could not be carried out. The college needed every square metre of space available to it.

This has led to an intolerable and dangerous situation. Students moving from class to class are forced to cross the N2 in all weather conditions by means of a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights. These are often out of order. A survey carried out on 15 March 2000 between 8.45 a.m. and 3.45 p.m. showed that 4,790 vehicles passed along the N2 at the college. In the same period, there were 1,267 crossings by students.

I have no doubt that with the growth in the economy in the past two years the level of traffic at this point on the N2 has greatly increased. The danger of serious accidents is glaringly obvious except, it seems, to the Department. There was outrage in Castleblayney and beyond, throughout the hinterland from which students come to the college, when it was learned that the major project needed to relocate the entire campus on the eastern site had not been included in the new schools building programme. That outrage has been renewed with the college's exclusion from the new list published this week.

The then Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Martin, stated to the Castleblayney College board of management in January 2000 that the single campus was urgently needed on the grounds of health and safety. Two years and a general election have passed and the daily danger to the lives of children has not been removed. The board has requested that the current Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, visit the school. I urge him to accede to that request. The Minister will be in County Monaghan on this Friday. Will he make the time in his busy schedule?

I have visited the school and have been appalled at the conditions in which pupils and teachers have to work. It is not just the issue of the dangerous crossings of the N2. The 1951 building is in a deplorable state. A detailed report on the condition of the building in 2001 showed it was in a bad state of repair and in need of substantial refurbishment. It is a tribute above all to the teachers that the school has survived at all in these conditions. Their heroic efforts have sustained a viable annual intake of pupils, parents acutely aware that Castleblayney College provides a high standard of education.

I urge the Minister to act on what is undoubtedly a life and death issue. Must a tragedy occur before action is taken? Must a pupil suffer injury or worse before the Department heeds the repeated pleas of this Deputy and others. We should not even have to contemplate that possibility but the awful prospect is a daily worry for the pupils, teachers and parents of Castleblayney College. I plead with the Minister to act.

Mr. Treacy

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the position in relation to Castleblayney College, County Monaghan, and the Department of Education and Science's proposals regarding this matter. Castleblayney College, which has a current enrolment of 310 pupils, operates under the aegis of County Monaghan Vocational Education Committee. It is currently housed in two buildings which are on opposite sides of the N2 national primary route. The main campus is on one side and a smaller, two-storey schoolhouse, built in 1951, is situated on the other.

From 1951 to 1969 this smaller building was the main campus for the college. Then, in 1969 a new school building was constructed on the opposite side of the road. The intention was that this new building would cater for all the college's requirements, thereby rendering the 1951 building redundant. However, by the time the new school was built, enrolments at the school had increased to such an extent that the vocational education committee chose to retain the old school as a working facility.

Following the construction of a further extension to the new campus in 1999, some 30 years later, it was expected that the old schoolhouse would no longer be required. However, again in light of expanding enrolments the school management authority, County Monaghan Vocational Education Committee, elected to retain its use and requested the Department of Education and Science to provide funding for its refurbishment. The Department agreed to review the situation.

The accommodation in the 1951 building was then the subject of a condition survey which was submitted to the Department in April 2001. The report stated

Given the substantial funding required to refurbish the 1951 schoolhouse, we (the architects) believe that the long-term needs of the college would be better served if this funding were used to provide all the accommodation requirements on the main campus.

It was on the basis of this report, which was endorsed by the vocational education committee, that the Department of Education and Science agreed a second extension to the main building as the optimum solution to the school's long-term accommodation needs.

Consistent with normal practice, the planning section of the Department was asked to project long-term enrolments for the college. Following the appropriate analysis, a figure of some 375 students emerged. A schedule of accommodation based on this projected enrolment figure identified that additional accommodation totalling 909 sq. m. plus a 606 sq. m. physical education hall facility would be required to remove the 1951 schoolhouse from use. This schedule was issued to the vocational education committee on 24 April 2002 and accepted by that body on 15 May 2002. The project in question is currently awaiting the appointment of a design team to initiate the architectural planning process.

The Minister for Education and Science has gone on record as stating that given the significant number of projects already in the architectural planning system, it is not envisaged that further design team appointments will be made in the current year, except for rationalisation projects. The timing of when a design team will be appointed for this project is dependent on the funding allocation for 2004 and subsequent years. However, it is fact that the Department has, over the past 30 years and more, responded to the needs of Castleblayney College, from the construction of the new school campus in 1969 to the completion of a major extension in 1999. Throughout that period, the school has benefited significantly from an increase in the quantity and quality of the accommodation it offers as one of two post-primary providers in the catchment area. It can expect to benefit in the future from further significant capital funding.

It is acknowledged that there is a difficult situation at Castleblayney College involving the need for students to cross the N2 national primary route frequently. In this regard, the vocational education committee, through its chief executive officer, has been made aware that the responsibility, in the first instance, rests with the VEC for the health and safety of the school population when crossing the road.

The Department suggested the drawing up of a safety plan at local level involving the Garda Síochána, the county council and all other concerned parties to consider all options including the installation of speed ramps and traffic lights. It is the Minister's understanding that the VEC has taken action in this regard.

A range of further measures may be adopted to mitigate the difficulties surrounding this problem. Critically, the vocational education committee may assess the extent to which only senior cycle students require to use the facilities across the road. A further measure that might be considered involves locating the administrative wing of the school in the old schoolhouse. It is considered that the adoption of the measures suggested would significantly alleviate the difficulties encountered by the school authority in managing the situation, especially with the new school year to commence in September next. I hope this puts the matter in context for the Deputy.