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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 26 Nov 2003

Vol. 575 No. 4

Schools Building Projects.

I apologise for being late and appreciate that the Minister of State is taking this matter. It relates to one of the more dilapidated schools in my constituency, St. Peter's national school in Phibsboro, which was founded almost 200 years ago in 1812. One can imagine a school founded that long ago is quite Dickensian in its structure with long breezy corridors, rotting windows, steep stone stairs and poor lighting. It would be well placed in a Dickens novel. The boys and girls attending the school share the same toilets. Therefore, the times they can be used have to be carefully scheduled and it is difficult to maintain sanitation and so on.

The boys' and the girls' schools were amalgamated in 1999, the incentive being that a new purpose-built school would be provided. That was the carrot extended to all and sundry to come together to amalgamate. The design was put together that year but, unfortunately, we are still awaiting the commencement of the construction nearly four years later. The promise of a new building is very much awaited by everybody concerned.

I got a letter from an eight year old pupil last week which did not give too many details but outlined how difficult it is to manage in the circumstances. The staff, parents and pupils have been extraordinarily patient on this issue, considering they had great expectations that by now they would have a brand new school.

I want to highlight the inadequacy of conditions in the school. There is no hot running water, every time any safety regulations have been examined they have failed, there are draughty windows, high ceilings, the school is expensive to heat, radiators are leaking, the lighting is poor, there are no sinks in the classrooms for art and the toilets are shared by boys and girls. The conditions are Dickensian. It is high time those concerned got a new building. I hope the Minister of State will have good news for them.

I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Noel Dempsey. I am glad the Deputy has given me the opportunity to outline to the House the current position regarding the allocation of funding for school building projects.

The 2003 school building programme is on the Department of Education and Science's website. It is designed to give the maximum amount of information concerning the schools capital investment programme to managers, boards of management, principals, parents, students, Deputies, Senators and all other interested parties. The criteria used for selecting projects was published for the first time.

The large-scale building project for St. Peter's national school, Phibsboro, Dublin 7, is listed in section 7 of the 2003 school building programme. This project is at stage 3, the developed sketch scheme stage of architectural planning. It has been assigned a band 1 rating by his Department in accordance with the published criteria for prioritising large-scale projects.

The Department of Education and Science intends to publish details of the 2004 school building programme by early January at the latest. The programme will clarify what progress is planned for projects such as St. Peter's national school during 2004.

The management authorities of individual schools should continue to use funds from their developed grant to deal with urgent health and safety matters. I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline the current position to the House.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.55 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 27 November 2003.

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