Vol. 631 No. 3
89 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of children for whom neither English nor Irish is their first language in the education system at both primary and post-primary level; the method through which language support resources are allocated to schools; the length of time for which these resources are allocated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5208/07]
My Department estimates that there are in the region of 28,000 students in our schools whose first language is not English or Irish. In order to meet their language needs, additional support is given to their schools which can take the form of financial assistance, additional teaching posts or portions of posts.
The level of extra financial or teaching support provided to any school is determined by the numbers of eligible non-English speaking students enrolled. The additional language support to an individual pupil is generally given for a period of two years.
Schools with between three and 13 eligible pupils receive grant assistance towards the cost of employing part-time teachers. Schools with three to eight pupils receive a grant of over €6,300 while schools with between ten and 13 such pupils receive over €9,500. Some €4 million is being provided for such grants in 2007.
Schools with 14 or more such pupils are entitled to one or more language support teachers, the number of which has increased dramatically in recent years. There are now approximately 1,250 language support teachers in our schools. More than 400 of these teachers have been allocated in the current school year alone. As I announced last November, 200 extra posts were approved by the Government for 2007, bringing to 1,450 the number of language teachers that will be working in our schools this year. This compares with just 262 posts in the 2001-02 school year.
In line with the Government's commitments under the Towards 2016 partnership agreement, a further 350 language support teachers will be provided between 2008 and 2009. In allocating additional teachers, I will address, in particular, the position of those schools catering for significant numbers of such children.
As the Deputy will be aware, a comprehensive strategy is currently being finalised which will ensure that the extra investment in this area is being used to the best effect, and that it is underpinned by the right support and training for teachers.
When will the 200 teachers which the Minister announced in November and re-announced last Friday come on stream? Where will they be located and what level of training do they have? Have they received training in language support teaching or just the general training all teachers receive? The Minister will be aware of Scoil Bhríde in Blanchardstown which has 150 international pupils and three language support teachers and Scoil Mhuire in Lucan which has 70 international pupils and two language support teachers. This situation is replicated in schools not only in Dublin city but throughout the country.
Has the Minister any intention of overhauling the allocation? She spoke about it before but she has not given a clear commitment as to whether she will change the rules she outlined in terms of the allocation of teachers. Does she have any plans to scrap the two-year rule? This is about ensuring children have a proper standard of English. What one child may learn in two years, another child might take longer to learn so the rule in place is extremely unfair to some children. What are the Minister's views on that?
We accept children have different levels of language. That is why a language assessment kit will be sent to every school. It is being devised for us by Integrate Ireland Language and Training Limited to ensure teachers will be able to assess the language capability of the child. I indicated at the conference of the Irish Primary Principals Network that the two-year rule and the two teacher rule will no longer apply. We are fortunate to be in a position to be able to do this due to the number of extra teachers who will go into the system.
Like the schools the Deputy mentioned, there are schools with a substantial number of children with needs and they must be the priority. Schools with large numbers of such pupils have already broken the two teacher rule, as it were, and have three teachers. That shows our bona fides in that regard.
Along with a revised allocation system, language assessment kits will be sent to schools as well as information packs for schools and parents. The important element is training for teachers. In the primary school, each teacher is fully qualified to teach and, obviously, has the skills and methodologies which go with that. Most of these children are in primary schools and it is important teachers have the methodology to teach not only English but basic literacy. It is also our intention to ensure further training for teachers, particularly in the use of the language kits.
I have the utmost faith in the teachers but they are qualified to teach English speaking students. A different degree of training is needed to teach students whose first language is not English. I am concerned when I hear the word "kit". It is very much the "one size fits all" approach. When will those kits be available and what will they contain? Will teachers in schools be trained to use these kits and carry out assessments? The Minister mentioned the word "priority" in regard to schools such as that in Blanchardstown. There was a lovely new phrase in the national development plan, namely, "accelerated priority". We now have a scale of priority. When will schools such as that in Blanchardstown see a real difference? Will those 200 teachers be in the schools next week, next month or next term?
The teachers will be allocated this year under a new allocation process recognising the number of students in those schools. An assessment kit — one can call it what one likes — is a method of assessment and a way in which teachers will be able to ascertain the language competency of a child. That is being devised in conjunction with Integrate Ireland Language and Training Limited. That group has also provided the teacher training about which the Deputy spoke. It has held seminars for language support teachers — part-time and whole-time — has provided classroom materials and has included the European language portfolio which provides grants for teachers for language tuition for refugees etc. Integrate Ireland Language and Training Limited is the expert in this area. That is why we called it in and are working with it to provide the training and the assessment kits. The allocations will be based on that.
90 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Science if she will provide greater access to educational psychological assessments to schools which do not have a National Educational Psychological Service, in view of the disclosure by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul that a considerable amount of its budget is spent on financing such assessments; if she will reassess the requirements for a clinical diagnosis for certain special needs children before learning supports are provided; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5136/07]
As the Deputy will be aware, this Government has given a very high priority to providing better supports for children with special needs. This year, we will provide over €820 million for special education — an increase of 30%, or €180 million, on last year's allocation. Among other improvements, this increased investment covers the cost of 31 extra NEPS psychologists, including our commitments under Towards 2016.
The number of psychologists in the Department has increased from 43 since the establishment of NEPS in 1999 to a current figure of 127, including four psychologists assigned to the National Behavioural Support Service. There are also a further 16 whole-time equivalent educational psychologists providing a service through the Dublin City and County VECs. Taken together, there are currently 143 educational psychologists working in services paid for by my Department. The expansion of the number of NEPS psychologists by a further 31 in 2007 will represent a significant increase in the numbers in NEPS and bring the total number of psychologists in the system to 174.
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that in line with the Government's Towards 2016 commitments, the number of NEPS psychologists will be increased even further in each of 2008 and 2009, to a total of 193. At this point, including the 16 psychologists in the Dublin VEC areas, it is expected that the number of educational psychologists in the system as a whole will be 209. Therefore, the number of schools covered directly by NEPS psychologists will increase substantially. The number of schools served directly by NEPS is only half the picture as schools which are not covered by the service can commission private assessments paid for by NEPS.
More than 4,000 such private assessments were funded in the 2005-06 academic year. In addition, NEPS psychologists themselves carried out 6,700 assessments. So, in total, nearly 11,000 children had assessments paid for by my Department last year. Given that 11,000 assessments were provided, I was concerned to hear that the Society of St. Vincent De Paul had also paid for some. My Department has contacted the society to ascertain why this was the case. Since the Government provided for a guaranteed allocation of resource teaching hours to all primary schools in 2005, the majority of primary school children do not now need psychological assessments to get extra support.
In common with many other psychological services, NEPS encourages a staged assessment process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention, in consultation with their assigned NEPS psychologist. Only if there is a failure to make reasonable progress, in spite of the school's best efforts, will a child be referred for individual psychological assessment. It is important that such a system be used to ensure that children are not referred unnecessarily for psychological intervention.
It was not clear from the coverage last month whether the staged model had been followed in the cases referred to by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. As I said earlier, we have contacted the society to arrange a meeting to discuss the background to, and context for, any funding it has provided for psychological assessments. As regards clinical diagnosis, discussions are currently under way between the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Health and Children with regard to the implementation of both the Disability Act and the EPSEN Act and these discussions will incorporate discussion on assessment issues. My Department will consider its assessment requirements in this context and as part of the normal ongoing review of policies and procedures.
With the huge increases in investment in special education services in recent years, I am confident that all children with special needs can access resources in an appropriate and speedy manner.
I thank the Minister for her reply but her assessment that everything in the garden is rosy is very far from what I hear from parents, principals and people involved in disability organisations.
When does she expect to reach the target of a full complement of NEPS psychologists so that every school in the country has access to NEPS? Will she increase the current quota, which allows for two psychological assessments per 100 children, for schools which do not have access to NEPS? A school of 100 children might have 20 children in need of access to a psychological assessment so that they can get specific supports. Those children might not fit into a category in the general weighting model introduced a couple of years ago. Without an adequate allocation of psychological assessments, parents who cannot otherwise afford help must go to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
I welcome the fact the Department of Education and Science is in discussion with the Department of Health and Children but the Minister will be aware that some families with children who have specific learning difficulties must wait two or three years for an assessment from the Department of Health and Children, where that is more appropriate than a NEPS assessment. They can get a letter stating the child requires certain supports but not a diagnosis. Can the Minister address that issue? It is a real problem, particularly at post-primary level where some children wait years for the necessary diagnosis and so go without any support at all.
The Deputy's first question was on when the target would be met. The target set by the planning group was for 184 NEPS psychologists. This year we intend to reach 174 and, in two years' time, we will exceed that figure to reach 209, including the psychologists in the VECs.
Will that cover all schools?
It certainly will. With the extra 31 coming on board this year, we will be able to extend the direct coverage. There have been many tragic incidents in schools recently so it is important we do not ignore the service NEPS provides to all schools on such occasions. It plays a very valuable role and school principals very much appreciate it.
The Deputy also asked about the individual allocation in schools. Schools that have applied for further assessments in urgent cases were allowed to have them. A number of schools do not use their full allocation and others carry their allocation forward from one year to the next. Additional assessments have been allowed to schools based on the private scheme. For that reason I am anxious to find out what is behind the need for funding from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. I also want to know whether the funding in question was sought as a last resort or as a first resort, given that a teacher and a school are meant to follow a staged approach prior to a psychological assessment. Even though we have extended the number of NEPS psychologists and introduced a general allocation, meaning every school in the country now has resource teachers, the funding for privately commissioned assessments has increased. There is no question of any cutback in that regard.
The Minister said all schools will be covered within two years. Does that mean there will be a reasonable workload for NEPS psychologists? Covering schools is one thing but having the capacity to carry out all the necessary psychological assessments is another and that is what schools are seeking. The Minister said schools can get more assessments than allocated but in practice they cannot.
There may have been cases where that is the case but I can cite examples of schools which have had additional assessments. Given that the target was set at 184 psychologists, the fact that we will provide 209 will certainly cover the existing need. Those numbers were indicated before the allocation of resource teachers to schools, meaning every school has those teachers as well as a NEPS psychologist for children with individual-specific needs.
91 Dr. Cowley asked the Minister for Education and Science if she will review the DEIS scheme in County Mayo and guarantee the same funding and benefits beyond 2007; the reason for the anomaly where one of two second level schools on Achill Island has been excluded, although all 11 feeder schools on the island are deemed disadvantaged by her Department and a similar situation exists in Erris; if she will take steps to guarantee beyond the current funding for disadvantage to the DEIS excluded schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5338/07]
Ensuring children from the most disadvantaged communities in Mayo and elsewhere get the support they need to succeed at school is a key priority for the Government. To this end, we have increased investment in tackling educational disadvantage significantly in recent years. In 2007, we are providing almost €730 million for targeted initiatives at all levels, an increase of almost €95 million on the comparable 2006 figure.
This investment supports the roll-out of additional supports under the DEIS action plan, through which 68 primary schools and eight post-primary schools in County Mayo will benefit from a comprehensive package of extra supports. Mayo schools are very well represented on the list of DEIS schools, making up almost 20% of all the rural schools in the programme.
In the case of schools that did not qualify for the new programme, it is important to note that an independent review process was available. Additional schools were added to the programme as a result of successful review applications. I am satisfied that all schools have been assessed on the basis of the best information available, have been ranked in terms of the right criteria and have been given a fair opportunity to appeal. Unsuccessful schools were advised at an early stage that they would be allowed to keep the supports that they have under pre-existing schemes for the current school year.
My Department is now in the process of informing these schools that they will retain additional teaching resources for the duration of the DEIS action plan. The effectiveness of these posts will be reviewed in line with the ongoing review process in place for DEIS schools. It will be a condition of the retention of such posts that schools comply with any reasonable requirements of the review process.
Schools which currently participate in the home-school-community liaison, HSCL, scheme will not be excluded from the scheme and will, from the commencement of the 2007-08 school year, continue to avail of HSCL services for the duration of the DEIS action plan. The level of service will be commensurate with both the size of the school and its relative level of disadvantage.
Many schools at present retain additional capitation from previous schemes which have now been subsumed into DEIS. From the beginning of the 2007-08 school year, this capitation will be offset against increases in the rate of general capitation. This process will take four years and will ensure that no school will experience a reduction in annual capitation as a result of this measure. Changes may, of course, arise from other factors such as enrolments.
I am satisfied that not only has the Government provided for a major increase in supports to our most disadvantaged schools through DEIS, but it has also addressed the concerns of schools that did not qualify for the new initiative.
I thank the Minister for her reply but she has engineered a crisis in Mayo. Schools are distressed because of a situation which is equivalent to losing a teacher. Class sizes will have to be increased and she has increased divisiveness and discrimination in Mayo. I asked specifically about the situation on Achill Island, a deprived area in which there are 13 schools, some 11 of which are feeder schools. They are all in DEIS and recognised as such by the Department. However, of the two that accept children from the national school, only one is in DEIS. The two schools are only separated by a wall but one receives an additional €30,000 funding. In that school, the pupils must achieve greater marks than the deprived children to reach third level. Does deprivation stop at that wall? How does this happen? I do not understand how one of two schools that are right beside each other is not in the programme while the other is, particularly when every second child that goes to these schools is classified as deprived. A similar situation exists in Erris. There are 22 feeder schools to two second level schools and one of them has been left out of the programme. It does not make sense.
This process was based on a flawed system that penalises schools that have done well and retained children. The schools would do better to expel all of their children. The criteria for the system are out of date and do not reflect the last three to five years when we were swamped with students who speak English as a second language.
The Minister's own list refers to the transferring from primary to second level, stating that the key principle of early intervention, to identify and help children at risk of leaving school early, is a major component of DEIS, with a continuing emphasis being placed on the development of effective transfer programmes for pupils making the transition to second level by building on the existing work of the HSCL scheme and the school completion programme. The Minister is not even following her own criterion. Surely the transition means that those children who are deprived at primary level are deprived at second level too. This does not make sense and I ask the Minister to rationalise it.
The criteria were devised by the Educational Research Centre and can stand up in any circumstances when examining factors in disadvantage, such as large families, unemployment, local authority accommodation, lone parenthood, Travellers, pupils eligible for free books and so on. These characteristics would define levels of disadvantage. Equally, at second level, hard statistical information was available for those on medical cards, retention rates and so on. It is possible that one school in the area did not qualify because no one would say that every child in Achill is disadvantaged and this has to do with the level of disadvantage in a particular school. It could happen that one school had a greater level of disadvantage than the other.
The Deputy made points I would like to correct. He said the school would lose a teacher but, as I indicated in my answer, that is not the case, the schools have already been informed that the teachers they have will be retained throughout the DEIS action plan. The Deputy also said the schools would lose money but no school will experience a reduction in annual capitation as a result of this measure. These issues were of concern to schools that were not included in DEIS so they have all been informed, as I outlined in my answer, about funding, teachers and the home-school-community liaison scheme.
Another element attached to this, although it falls outside the remit of the Department of Education and Science, is the school meals scheme and that will also be continued. We will ensure schools are not disadvantaged by being in the scheme and that the most disadvantaged will continue to gain the most.
The second school never got free meals. It is not equitable. The figures the Minister used are based on school statistics for 1995, 1996 and 1997, a long time ago. Of the schools excluded from the scheme, 25% are in Mayo. The figures for Dublin show that 38 schools applied and 26 were accepted, with 12 being refused. In Mayo, nine schools applied and only one was accepted. That is hardly equitable.
The Minister mentioned the home-school-community liaison person. That will be a shared role, the face will disappear from the school. The teacher in St. Muiredeach's will not be there anymore, it will be someone else whom the pupils and staff do not know. I ask the Minister to leave the situation as it is beyond 2007, that is the only fair way to move forward.
The Minister of State said during an Adjournment debate that where there was severe socioeconomic disadvantage and the situation had not been properly evaluated, a re-evaluation could take place. Is that the light at the end of the tunnel?
The Deputy was not listening to me. The schools will retain their posts for the duration of the DEIS plan and continue to be part of the home-school-community liaison depending on the level of disadvantage and the size of the school. The capitation will ensure there is no reduction in funding.
Will that continue beyond 2007?
It will continue for the duration of the disadvantage plan. The Deputy is also confused about the figures and dates for the junior certificate. Those were for first years who entered schools in those years, but who sat their junior certificate three years later. We were not using figures from 1995, 1996 or 1997, we were looking at the first years in those years and their junior certificate results.
The Minister is using retention figures, which penalises good schools. This is not about the statistics for the national schools, where the criteria were broad, but about second level.
We were asking if children who entered school in those years finished school, whether they reached and completed junior certificate and then leaving certificate. The information I gave today about schools that were in disadvantage schemes retaining their teaching posts, remaining part of the home-school-community liaison scheme and not losing funding should offer comfort to all schools. The fact that 20% of the rural schools in the scheme are in Mayo identifies the way the schemes target the most disadvantaged pupils. No one in the House would say we should spread the money so thinly that it would not reach the intended targets.
Will the same teacher perform the home-school-community liaison?
92 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Education and Science if she is satisfied with the standard of provision of education for deaf children; the steps she is taking to improve educational provision to deaf children; when she expects to be presented with a full copy of the research being undertaken by the Centre for Deaf Studies regarding the now disbanded advisory committee on the education of the deaf; if she will publish this research in full; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5209/07]
I am satisfied that the Department provides an extensive range of supports for the education of deaf and hearing impaired children. This includes three special schools and ten special classes attached to mainstream schools with a pupil-teacher ratio for these classes of 7:1.
In line with the Department's policy that children with special educational needs access appropriate education intervention in mainstream settings where possible, many deaf and hearing impaired pupils are integrated into mainstream classes at primary and post-primary level with the assistance, as necessary, of resource teaching and special needs assistant support.
The Department has provided funding for a weekly home tuition service whereby tutors visit the homes of deaf pre-school children and deaf school-going pupils to provide training in Irish sign language for these children, their siblings and parents. In addition, the visiting teachers for the hearing impaired scheme provides a service to deaf and hearing impaired children from pre-school to third level.
An enhanced capitation grant is provided to special schools and mainstream schools with special classes supporting deaf and hearing impaired pupils and grant aid is available towards the special equipment needs of these pupils. Last November I announced increases of between 30% and 39% in the special capitation rates for these classes. The 2007 rate for children with hearing impairment is €785 per pupil, while for profoundly deaf children it is €805 per pupil. The Department also contributes to the professional development of teachers of deaf and hearing impaired children through funding courses in Irish sign language.
An advisory committee for the deaf and hard of hearing was established in 2001 and it met 38 times. In the course of the committee's work, however, it became apparent that there were entrenched, divergent views among representatives of deaf and hard of hearing persons and their families on approaches to the teaching of the deaf and hard of hearing and that there was little willingness to reach consensus. One group, which comes from an oralist tradition, favours a focus on teaching deaf and hard of hearing children to speak and to understand spoken language. Another group strongly advocates sign language as the appropriate and exclusive means of communication. As a result of these opposing views, the committee was unable to agree a final report, despite being set several deadlines for doing so.
In the circumstances, and following consultations between officials and the chairperson of the committee, the Department formed the view that there was no prospect of the advisory committee reaching an agreed position in the foreseeable future. The committee was therefore disbanded in 2004.
Following the establishment of the National Council for Special Education, the Department referred the issues that had been under consideration by the committee to the NCSE for its consideration. The council has commissioned a researcher from the Centre for Deaf Studies to work on this. The work is at an advanced stage and I will consider the matter further following receipt of the report from the NCSE.
I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, on his appointment and wish him well. We do not intend that he will be in the job too long. I am sure he will do an excellent job. I also wish Deputy de Valera well on her impending retirement.
The community who care for the deaf are concerned that the system does not adequately provide for them. I accept some of what the Minister said in her reply. The education system is not embracing new technology to the extent it could. Such technology has the capacity to impact very positively on children who are deaf or hard of hearing. I share her concern over the different viewpoints on the committee, which may have led to some difficulty. We need to move beyond those difficulties for the sake of the children. Will the Minister consider setting student attainment targets and timeframes within which deaf children should reach milestones?
I appreciate that mainstreaming can be difficult in some areas. There is a view that children would do better if they had access to some other deaf pupils in the school. I know of some schools where deaf children are signing and the whole school embraces it. All children in the school are given the opportunity to participate in signing classes to allow them to communicate with deaf students. I know this is easier in small schools. Has the Minister considered establishing a centre for excellence for dealing with the issue, as proposed to the original committee, or does the issue fall under the remit of the National Council for Special Education?
I share the Deputy's disappointment that the group failed to reach consensus. However, its members held very entrenched divergent views. It is important that the National Council for Special Education would try to get an overview of the issue bearing in mind these differing views and the research material available. I am not in a position to propose setting targets as each child is very different. I am guided by what the National Council for Special Education recommends in this regard.
It is interesting to see how many children are mainstreamed in schools. The priority is to teach sign language to the deaf child and his or her siblings and parents. The visiting teachers are doing a very good job in this regard. As it is such a difficult and sensitive issue for the deaf community who have failed to agree, it would be best to await the report of the National Council for Special Education. I am certainly willing to act on whatever it recommends.
When will that report be available?
I hope to receive it in the next few months as the council has been working on the matter.
93 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Science her Department’s projected increase in the school-going population over the lifetime of the national development plan; the way she proposes to accelerate the purchase of sites and the construction of schools and classrooms in time to meet this projected need in order to reduce class size; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5137/07]
Increases in our population, including the impact of immigration, are now unquestionably the main drivers of growth in demand for school accommodation. On foot of current and projected demographics, the Department is planning provision for a minimum increase in the national primary school-going population of 100,000 pupils by 2013. The number of extra classrooms that will be needed will depend on such factors as the spread of the additional pupils and the capacity, or otherwise, of existing schools to meet this demand. Nonetheless, the Government is determined to provide the extra accommodation that will be needed in line with or ahead of demand.
We have dramatically increased investment in the school building programme, from just over €90 million when we came into office to €540 million this year. Under the lifetime of the national development plan almost €4.5 billion will be invested in schools. This is an unprecedented level of capital investment which reflects the commitment of the Government to continue its programme of sustained investment in primary and post primary schools.
This year, more than €300 million will be invested in large-scale school building projects concentrated mainly in the provision of school accommodation in rapidly developing areas. This level of funding will facilitate construction work on more than 150 large scale projects which will deliver more than 15,000 additional permanent places in new schools and the extension and modernisation of facilities in existing schools for more than 45,000 pupils.
It will also enable the purchase of sites to facilitate the smooth delivery of the school building programme, again with the focus being on site requirements in rapidly developing areas. The balance will be used to fund the other elements of the school building programme such the summer works scheme, the small schools scheme, the permanent accommodation scheme, etc. In total, more than 1,500 projects will be delivered in 2007.
Not only are we investing far more in school buildings, but the improvements that have been made in the planning, design and delivery processes are also helping to deliver projects much more quickly. There is now much greater forward planning, with close and regular engagement with local authorities, while a new partnership model has been developed to deliver community facilities in tandem with new schools. To reduce red tape and allow projects to move faster, responsibility for smaller projects has been devolved to school level. Standard designs have also been developed for eight, 12 and 16-classroom schools to facilitate speedier delivery of projects and save on design fees.
Steps have been taken to reduce expenditure on the purchase of prefabs by enabling schools to build permanent accommodation instead. While it is impossible to eradicate the need for prefabs where extra accommodation is needed at very short notice, the amount spent is kept to an absolute minimum. Over the past five years, expenditure on temporary accommodation represented approximately 4% of the total capital expenditure on school buildings. Last year, it was less than 1.5%.
We are also doing our level best to enable new schools in developing areas to open in high quality permanent accommodation from the start. The new primary schools for Adamstown are being delivered in this way. Through both increased investment under the NDP and the improved planning and delivery processes that we have put in place in recent years, the Government will ensure that the need for extra school places is met.
I join Deputy Enright in welcoming the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey. I wish him well in his job and wish Deputy de Valera all the best in her retirement. We look forward to working with the new Minister of State, even if it is only for a short period.
While I do not doubt that the Government is investing considerably into school buildings, it is running very fast to stand still with the anticipated demographic changes that will see 100,000 additional children by 2013. At the present rate of progress does the Department feel it will be able to deliver or will it constantly need to play catch-up? Last night in Leixlip, the INTO claimed that 85% of primary schoolchildren in north Kildare are in excessively large classes. The Government parties have been in government for nearly ten years and these are the kinds of statistics we hear. The figures the Minister supplied to me indicate that the number of children in classes of more than 30 is increasing rather than decreasing.
Does the Minister have any radical proposals to address the issue, including, for example, implementing the recommendation of the All-Party Committee on the Constitution to compulsorily purchase land for schools at reasonable prices? Speaking before the Joint Committee on Education and Science a Department of Education and Science official stated that effectively under the current regime the Department of Education and Science is just another buyer in a buoyant market. I put it to the Minister that the Government would save money if it could acquire sites under compulsory purchase order at an early stage.
The Minister states that the school building process is being accelerated. However, we are being told that in practice it takes years to go through the Department's architectural programme and by the time the school is operational the need may be even greater, resulting in the requirement to pay for rented prefabs, which represents money that is thrown away to rich people. Does the Minister have any radical proposals to accelerate the process so that we will not find ourselves with exactly the same problem at the end of the timeframe of the national development plan?
I too welcome Deputy Haughey as Minister of State in the Department and I wish him well in his work. I encourage the Deputies opposite to table questions for him the next time we are answering oral questions.
As long as he is listening he is all right.
With the range of options I have outlined, we are satisfied we can make quick progress in building the new schools, particularly in developing areas. This will require us to ensure that much of our funding goes towards those areas in coming years. Having the generic design and repeating models removes all the stages of architectural design, appointment of design teams, etc. I have already opened two gaelscoileanna, one in County Tipperary the other in County Roscommon, which were identical on the outside, but completely different inside. Both were very quickly delivered. This year alone 20 such schools will commence construction. They have removed the need for all the architectural planning which is one way of doing it quickly. The design and build option is another one that can be used for very large schools. We have a 16-classroom school in Griffeen Valley, a 24-classroom school in Diswellstown, and a new 16-classroom school is to be built at Adamstown. Rather than going to the market to build one school at a time we are bundling schools together under the design and build option. For example, the new post-primary schools for Donabate, Laytown and Phibblestown will be bundled together under one design and build contract. This will speed up delivery and will ensure the Department is not caught up in the intricacies of design, etc. That we have devolved so much responsibility for all the smaller schools is one of the key successes in ensuring so many schools have got projects. The 1,500 projects this year could not be delivered if it was all being done centrally by the Department.
On the issue of sites, our biggest demand is in the County Dublin area including Kildare and Wicklow. The Deputy started to speak about class size, I thought we were talking about classrooms.
One cannot reduce class size unless there are classrooms for the children.
I will certainly answer in regard to class size. If anybody in this House wants to tell me that the teachers allocated to schools in the past four years, who could have gone into class size but which we choose to put into special needs and disadvantage, should not have gone there I look forward to hearing from them.
We never said that. There is plenty of money in the kitty.
The Minister told us that before Christmas.
The Deputy is the one who talks about the hoary chestnut.
It is not a case of either or. It is springtime and we should be helping our children.
These are priority questions.
The schedule for teaching is going out this month. There is a further reduction in class size from this September also. In regard to sites, we reached an agreement with Fingal County Council which means we get good value in sites and in return we provide the enhanced community facilities. That is the type of model that can be used.
Can the Minister not do that everywhere without changing the law?
We must proceed to other questions.
That is the type of model that is being rolled out in other counties also.
In the meantime the children are in classrooms——
There is no question of class size.
There is one other issue. Some of the delays can be attributed to planning objections.
The Chair has called Question No. 94.
It only takes one person to object for a case to go to An Bord Pleanála. That is one of the reasons for the delays.
That is the minimum of delay.
