I thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise the issue of St. Joseph's national school, Riverstown, County Cork. The following is an extract from a letter I received from the board of management of the school:
The board of management of the above school has just finished a three year term. As it started its term of office, the school got the approval of the building unit of the Department of Education and Science to initiate a proposed extension of 8/12 classrooms and related ancillary rooms. This proposed extension is now at section 7 of the building list of the Department along with a couple of hundred other schools.
Glanmire is a rapidly growing area with no facilities for the increased number of children requiring education. The school is a well maintained school that is struggling under extremely overcrowded conditions. The school was built in 1979 as a 12 classroom school, in 1985 we were well on the way to a four classroom extension, having received planning permission, when the project was scrapped. It has taken continuous efforts by all boards of management to get on the Department's list again. We have now reached stage three of planning and we have no guarantee of going any further.
St. Joseph's is a 12 classroom school with 20 classes, a staff of 33 comprising 26 teachers, one language tutor, four special needs assistants, a secretary and a caretaker. The enrolment for this year is 574 pupils and the expected numbers for the next three years are as follows: September 2004 – 601; September 2005 – 639; and September 2006 – 666.
The school now has seven prefab classrooms, three portacabins, a language support teacher in the hall, a class in the medical-library room, a principal's office in a doorway and a staffroom for 33 which was built for 14. The school is well maintained and is being penalised for this good house management, even though some of the prefabs are nearly 20 years old and are getting difficult to maintain to the required standard.
The board of management also feels that far too much money –€146,000 – and time has been spent on this project to date for it to be put aside again. The board has organised a health and safety audit in the school and will forward it to the Department soon.
In recent times the board of management has done the following. In November 2000 the school was granted permission to initiate eight to 12 classrooms and ancillary rooms. In December 2000 the board of management decided on school needs. In January 2001 three members of the board of management went to the Department building unit in Tullamore to request more resource rooms and a Cork-based architect. In February 2001 permission was granted for this, letters were sent to all design team members and meetings were held with architects to draw up programme of work. The board arranged testing of the school for asbestos by the health and safety unit of the Office of Public Works.
In March 2001 discussions were held at board meetings about fund-raising of €25,000, a search was done for drawings of the 1985 proposed extension and the fee for the design team was negotiated. In April 2001 a letter was sent to parents requesting a contribution of £50 per family for the extension.
In May 2001 there were further meetings with the architect. A sketch scheme plan for eight to 12 classrooms was drawn up, delivered to the board of management for approval and sent to the Department for inspection. In June 2001 meetings were held with local residents' associations to discuss worries regarding the extension. Telephone calls were made throughout that summer to the Department to check if the sketch plan had been approved. In October 2001 three members of the board of management and the architect had meetings with the building unit in Tullamore to discuss the sketch scheme. They were asked to change certain aspects. Letters were sent to new parents requesting £50 contributions to the extension fund-raising.
In November 2001 public meetings were held with local TDs to get their support and to see if they could speed up the process. The revised sketch scheme was sent back to the Department. In December 2001 the sketch scheme was ready for approval but the Department was not proceeding with proposals. There was a hold on all projects.
In March 2002 the board put in a request for a new prefab classroom as pupil numbers would give an extra teacher in September 2002. In April 2002 a school walk was held to raise funds, a site plan for the prefab classroom was organised and planning permission sought. A quantity surveyor did figures for stage three documents.
In May 2002 the stage three documents were sent to the Department and local Deputies were kept informed of the situation. In July 2002 approval was granted for a prefab classroom. The building unit of the Department sent letters with a number of questions for the design team. In August 2002 answers from the design team were sent back to the Department. Assurances were given by the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, that the school extension would be considered for inclusion in the programme for 2003. In October 2003 local TDs were invited to the school to see the overcrowded conditions for themselves.
I attended that visit to the school. In the light of the number of children attending the school, the 33 staff members and the projections for the next number of years, I urge the Minister to use his good offices to progress this project to ensure that the pupils of Riverstown national school can receive an education in decent surroundings.
