Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 20 Feb 2007

Vol. 631 No. 6

Adjournment Debate.

Suíomh Scoile.

Mr. M. Higgins

Níl sé seo an chéad uair a luaigh mé an gá atá ann suíomh a chur ar fáil do Gaelscoil de hÍde in Órán Mór. Tá sé scanallach go bhfuil an Gaelscoil, a bhunaíodh i 1994 agus a glacadh leis ar bhuan-fhoras a 1998, ag tosnú a dara deich mbliana gan aon suíomh buan a bheith ar fáil dos na 170 daltaí. Is mian liom freagra díreach a fháil ar na ceisteanna bunúsacha atá agam. An mbeidh an bord bainistíochta, na múinteoirí agus na tuismitheoirí in ann daltaí nua a ghlacadh an fhómhar seo chugainn?

I should say that what is taking place in relation to Gaelscoil de hÍde is little less than a disgrace. An appalling amount of cur i gcéill has been involved. The parents' action group was recently devastated to learn it could not proceed with architectural planning for the school. The Minister for Education and Science announced in November 2006 that Gaelscoil de hÍde had been "given the go-ahead to start architectural planning for a new school". However, at an information session organised by the schools building section of the Department of Education and Science in December 2006, the parents' group was explicitly told that the architectural planning process could not start until a site had been acquired. No concrete progress has been made on site acquisition or architectural planning for more than a year, since the parents' group met the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, on 1 February 2006. I was present when a delegation from the school expressed its frustration on other occasions.

The school, which was established in 1994, has been operating on a permanent basis since 1998, but it does not have a permanent building. Its 170 pupils are mostly housed in prefabricated accommodation on a site of less than half an acre. The school pays rent of €125,000 every year. The parents were told over a year ago that the school had been placed in band 1.1, which meant that it was an immediate priority. There have been some recent developments — we cannot protect ourselves from the time of the year that is in it. The school was visited by the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, Deputy Parlon, when he was viewing the flooding in the region, which I am sure he will solve in the next few weeks. When the Minister of State and his representatives visited the school, I asked them a number of straight questions. How many sites have been investigated by the OPW? What is the status of any of the sites in question? When will the OPW inform the Department of Education and Science that a site has been identified? I addressed a further question explicitly to the Minister, Deputy Hanafin. Will the school's board of management, parents and teachers — as well as other parents who may wish to send their children to a scoil lán-Ghaelach — be able to accept children in September?

Oranmore, which is a rapidly expanding area, has been the victim of appallingly bad planning. Most recently, an application has been submitted to build hundreds of houses on a flood plain. It is interesting that Ministers and Ministers of State have come to Oranmore and meetings have been held, but we are no closer to locating a site for the school. Tá sé in am freagra a fháil. What stage is the process at? What progress has been made in the talks with a person who may give the school a site? When will the new school building open? An mbeidh sé ar chumas an scoil glacadh le daltaí i mí Mheán Fómhair seo chugainn? Ba mhaith liom freagra díreach a fháil. An mbeidh an scoil in ann é sin a dhéanamh, nó nach mbeidh?

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Mr. Treacy)

Sa chéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom buíochas ó chroí a ghabháil leis an Teachta Ó hUiginn as ucht an t-ábhar an-tábhachtach seo a ardú. Tá an Teachta mar ionadaí náisiúnta don cheantar le blianta fada agus tá a lán oibre iontach déanta aige. Tá spéis speisialta aige sa Ghaeilge, sa cheantar agus san oideachas. Tugann sé a lán cúnamh do mhuintir na háite. Tá an spéis céanna agam sa Ghaeilge, san oideachas agus sa teanga. Ní raibh an t-ádh agam riamh bheith i mo ionadaí náisiúnta don cheantar, ach bhí mé i mo comhairleoir áitiúil don cheantar ar feadh sé bliana. Tréaslaím leis an Teachta as ucht an t-ábhar seo a ardú arís. Déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall freagra cruinn a thabhairt don Teach.

I thank Deputy Michael D. Higgins for raising this matter and affording me an opportunity to outline to the House the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects. I will outline the position of the Department of Education and Science on the development of education provision in Gaelscoil de hÍde, Órán Mór, Contae na Gaillimhe. The modernisation of facilities in this country's 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task, given the legacy of decades of under-investment in this area. The Government needs to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth, particularly urban and rural areas like those in County Galway.

Since it took office, the Government has shown a focused determination to improve the condition of school buildings and to ensure that appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum. As evidence of this commitment, over €540 million will be spent on school building and modernisation projects in the coming year. That money will be spent on primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. Approximately €3 billion has been invested in school buildings since 1997, delivering over 7,800 school building projects. Further investment of over €540 million is being made to build on such achievements, focusing particularly on the provision of school accommodation in places where the population is growing at a rapid rate. As further evidence of the Government's commitment, it intends to invest €4.5 billion in schools over the coming years under the new national development plan, which was published recently.

I am sure Deputy Higgins agrees that the record level of investment is a positive testament to the high priority that the Government attaches to ensuring that this country's school accommodation is of the highest possible standard. Responsibility for smaller projects has been devolved to school level to reduce red tape and to allow projects to move faster. Standard designs have been developed for eight and 16 classroom schools to facilitate the speedier delivery of projects and save on design fees. The design and build method is used to expedite delivery when the use of standard designs is not possible. Such initiatives, when taken with the unprecedented level of funding that is available, are ensuring that schools building projects are delivered in the fastest possible timeframe.

Enrolments at Gaelscoil de hÍde in Oranmore, which is a co-educational primary school in a growing area, have increased from 125 in 2002 to 170 in 2007. Officials in the Department of Education and Science have completed an assessment of the application for a new build school. The school's long-term projected staffing level — a principal and 16 mainstream teachers — has been notified to the school authorities. The Office of Public Works, which generally acts on behalf of the Department of Education and Science in acquiring sites for schools, has been asked to source a suitable site for Gaelscoil de hÍde. A number of sites have been identified and the OPW has commenced negotiations on the most suitable of them. In tandem with the site acquisition process, the Department announced in November 2006 that the project had been approved to proceed to the appointment of a design team.

Mr. M. Higgins

It announced in December 2006 that the architectural planning process could not start.

Mr. Treacy

I am shocked. I thank the Deputy again for raising this matter and allowing me to outline the progress that is being made with the school building and modernisation programme, especially as it relates to Gaelscoil de hÍde. Tabharfaidh mé an breis eolais a thug an Teachta don Teach nóiméad ó shin don Aire amárach. Deimhneoidh mé an bhfuil an Roinn in ann aon rud a dhéanamh chun an suíomh seo a cheannach agus an conradh a shocrú chomh luath agus is féidir.

Mr. M. Higgins

Go raibh míle maith agat.

Schools Building Projects.

Mr. Cregan

I am pleased to have the opportunity to raise the issue of the need to provide funding for the provision of a replacement playground at St. James's national school, Cappagh, County Limerick. Like many other schools in my constituency, St. James's national school applied for funding under the summer works scheme for the replacement of its original playground but this application was unsuccessful. An appeal is ongoing and I raise this matter with the Minister and her officials in the hope that the appeal will be successful.

The summer works scheme is a very practical scheme which has been beneficial to many schools throughout the country and throughout the constituency of Limerick West. I fully understand that due to the volume of applications received in the Department, priority must be given to necessary works such as roof repairs or replacement, windows and doors replacement, the upgrading of heating systems, electrical works and the upgrading of toilets.

Many schools have qualified under the terms of the scheme this year and will see work carried out during the summer months. It is important to recognise the practical nature of the scheme. Applications are invited and approvals are announced in the month of January. The approved applications go to tender and the work can be successfully carried out during the summer holidays between June and September. This cuts down on bureaucracy and red tape. Practical and sensible contracts are signed on the ground and works are completed quickly.

I understand the Minister was in a position this year to approve applications on categories 1 to 9. This is commendable and I praise the Minister for what she has done. Category 10 specifically refers to external works and such applications would this year have cost in the region of €20 million. It may be the case that some of those applications for external works were not regarded as priorities but I wish to make a strong case for St. James's national school in Cappagh to ensure that its 103 pupils have a play area. A fine new building was built on the site of the playground. The school is not asking for an enhanced playground with white lines for basketball courts; it is simply asking for a basic hardcourt area costing in the region of €50,000.

It might be suggested that the local people should raise this money but there is a good reason this is not possible. Under the devolved grant scheme, the building of the school or the extension is left in the hands of the board of management and the staff of the school and this has worked very successfully in the case of St. James's school in Cappagh. During the course of that building, those parents in a small rural parish in west Limerick raised in excess of €50,000 to add to the grant they had received. It is not a question of asking the same people to raise additional funding for the playground.

The issue of replacement of the playground may have been lost in the application. I wish to emphasise that these children do not have a playground and they need a replacement playground. I understand the large volume of applications under category 10 for external works. I know of two applications from my constituency involving Ahalin primary school and Ballyhahil primary school, where the parents' councils, boards of management and the teaching staff have prioritised their applications on the basis of health and safety considerations. Departmental officials may have had good reasons for not considering the parking and health and safety considerations but it is now time to recognise that category 10 contains some genuine applications such as those I have referred to. The playground in Cappagh is very necessary, and parking facilities, safer access, dropping-off points and bus bays have all become very important areas of consideration for these local schools.

I appeal to the Minister that those schools be given favourable consideration in the appeals process and that there will be a favourable response to our requests.

Mr. Treacy

I thank Deputy Cregan for raising this matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to this House the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the position regarding the provision of a replacement playground at St. James's school, Cappagh, County Limerick.

Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task, given the legacy of decades of under-investment in this area as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. However, since taking office, this Government has shown a focused determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure that the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.

The school in question, St. James's school, Cappagh, is a co-educational primary school with a September 2006 enrolment of 103 pupils. Enrolments at this school have been relatively stable with a slight increase in recent years, from 86 pupils in 2002 to 103 pupils in 2006.

The school originally submitted an application to the Department of Education and Science for major capital investment in its existing buildings. Having considered the school's accommodation needs, the school authorities were offered and accepted funding under the small schools initiative in 2005 to provide accommodation suitable to that of a four teacher school. This building project is currently under construction.

The school authorities made an application for the provision of a hardcourt play area under the summer works scheme 2007. Under the published prioritisation criteria governing this scheme, external environment projects, such as the provision of hard play areas fall into category 10. Unfortunately this particular category was not reached this year. The management of the school has appealed the decision and this appeal is currently under consideration in the Department of Education and Science.

I wish to inform the House that more than 1,100 modernisation projects to greatly improve facilities at schools under the 2007 summer works scheme were announced by the Department of Education and Science on 8 January 2007. A total of 641 primary schools and 324 post-primary schools around the country will receive funding to complete essential small scale capital projects.

I thank the Deputy again for raising this matter and allowing me, on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science who is unable to be here as she is at this time on RTE discussing education matters, to outline the progress being made under the school building and modernisation programme and the position regarding the application for the provision of a replacement playground at St. James's school, Cappagh, County Limerick.

Mr. Lowry

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to raise the accommodation crisis at Carrig national school. Carrig national school is a rural school on the Tipperary-Offaly border. In 1994 the school was expanded to cater for a maximum of 75 pupils and three staff. In the 13 years since that last major expansion, the school population has increased to 91. It has four classroom teachers and two special needs teachers. With those six teachers, there are also five full-time special needs assistants, one part-time special needs assistant and a secretary, giving a total staff complement of 13.

I want to emphasise the commitment to special needs education at Carrig national school. Recognition of the basic right to education of every pupil is fundamental to the ethos of the school. Of the 91 pupils in the school, ten have been assessed with a variety of learning disabilities, such as severe speech and language disorder, profoundly deaf with epilepsy, Down's syndrome and autistic spectrum.

The needs of these pupils are of greatest importance to school management. The further enrolment of autistic children next year will have serious ramifications for the school generally and its accommodation needs. The school staff and board of management endeavour to provide the very best education possible for all the children in their educational care. This cannot be fully achieved without proper resources and the provision of satisfactory accommodation. The fact that parents, teachers and pupils learn sign language after school hours at night is proof of the dedication, caring ethos and determination to provide a rounded, well-balanced education for every one of the 91 pupils enrolled in Carrig national school.

A scheme of 74 houses is currently nearing completion in the catchment area, with construction beginning on another significant scheme of houses. There is also a planning application for 32 houses. All of this additional development will have a considerable impact on the future accommodation requirements of the school.

In response to the obvious accommodation need in terms of special needs and staff, the school management has applied for a devolved grant from the Department. A staff room, an extra classroom to replace a prefab, a learning support room, a resource room, an office, a library and a meeting room are required to adequately cater for the school's needs into the future. The school is currently using a teacher's toilet to store PE equipment and science equipment. As the school has no general purpose room, access to the PE curriculum is dictated by weather conditions, as are school assemblies. Therefore, the school also needs a general purpose room and a store room.

It is crucial that this school is included in the major capital projects that proceed this year. There is an acute accommodation crisis in Carrig national school, where first and second class and the learning support teacher are working in a damp, draughty prefab, which is costing the school a fortune to rent and heat. Surely this is a prime example of poor value for money, when two or three years' rent would pay for the construction of a badly needed new classroom.

Last year, the school unsuccessfully applied for an extension. It was apparent to the Department at the time that major capital investment was required to address the accommodation crisis in the school. This year, the school management has applied for funding under the devolved scheme. Failure to include this school under the devolved capital programme would be a travesty and simply incomprehensible to parents, teachers and the wider community. It is apparent from the planned housing development in the locality that additional school accommodation will be needed in the future. It is also blatantly obvious that the school needs additional facilities to meet the requirements of the special needs teachers and pupils.

The current overcrowding at Carrig national school is unacceptable. The teachers and pupils are placed at an unfair disadvantage because of the intolerable conditions prevailing on a daily basis. I ask the Minister, on behalf of the parents, teachers and board of management, to ensure the inclusion of this school in the 2007 building programme.

Mr. Treacy

I thank Deputy Lowry for raising the matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the House the position of the Department of Education and Science regarding the urgent need to include Carrig national school in the school building programme. Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task given the legacy of decades of under-investment in this area as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. Nonetheless, since taking office, the Government has shown a focused determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.

Carrig national school is a co-educational primary school with a September 2006 enrolment of 91 pupils. Enrolments at the school have shown a slight increase in recent years, having increased from 72 pupils in 2002. The management authority of the school submitted an application under the small schools scheme of 2007 for accommodation appropriate to a four-teacher school. As the Deputy is aware, the Department of Education and Science has moved, where appropriate, towards a model of devolving funding to school authorities. Devolving of funding to school management authorities allows them to have control of their projects, assists in moving projects more quickly to tender and construction, and can also deliver better value for money. This particular devolved initiative was originally introduced on a pilot basis for 20 schools in the 2003 school building programme and due to the very positive feedback from schools has been extended in the school building programmes since then.

All applications received in the Department of Education and Science under this scheme, including the application from Carrig national school, are currently under active consideration and the list of successful applicants will be published as soon as possible. Once again, I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and allowing me to outline the progress being made under the school building and modernisation programme and the position in regard to Carrig national school on the border of Offaly and the great historic county of Tipperary.

Institutes of Technology.

Mr. Deenihan

Tralee Regional Technical College, as it was then called, was approved in 1977 by the then Minister for Education, Mr. Peter Barry. At that time, it was envisaged that the role of the college would be to provide a limited number of one-year and two-year higher certificate programmes, validated by the NCEA, and an extensive range of engineering apprenticeship courses linked to FÁS. There were plans to cater for a total student population of 350 by the turn of the millennium. It was thought that the college would primarily serve the south-west Munster region, which is still the case, with the student population drawn mainly from Kerry and parts of counties Clare, Cork and Limerick.

With a student population of over 3,000, the policy of providing programmes to satisfy regional demand for graduates still holds today and the institute now offers programmes at craft, higher certificate, ordinary bachelor degree, honours bachelor degree and postgraduate level. From its inception, it was the institute's policy to offer educational opportunities to disadvantaged and disabled students and it has an enviable record of achievement in this area. Throughout its history, staff have been actively involved in the development of the local community and in assisting the socioeconomic growth of the region through research and development activities.

A major development was the re-designation of the college as an institute of technology in 1997. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength and has become a major educational centre in the south west. In recent months, a number of students and staff of the institute have been in contact with me expressing concern that there seems to be no progress on the provision of the promised new library building, student facilities building or indoor sports facility.

In 1998, the original phase 1 of the North Campus development was split into two phases — phase 1A, which consisted of business, information technology, hotel and catering and tourism buildings; and phase 1B, which consisted of a library, student facilities and sports buildings. There was a firm commitment that when phase 1A building was completed in 2001, work would begin on phase 1B buildings in 2002 or 2003 at the latest. However, this has not happened. As I understand it, floor plans and layouts for both phase 1A and phase 1B have been at an advanced stage since 1998 but nothing has happened.

I ask the Minister for Education and Science, through the Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, to clarify the amount of funds provided by the building unit of her Department to the Institute of Technology, Tralee, for architectural and other professional fees, and to whom they were payable for phase 1A buildings of the North Campus development and separately for phase 1B of that development in each of the years 1998 to 2005. This would exclude the clinical studies building, which was funded by the Department of Health and Children.

I would appreciate it if the Minister would provide information on the current status of departmental approval and capital funding scheduling for the buildings of phase 1B, particularly for the library building, the student facilities building and the sports building, and the other buildings of phase 1B. I would like to know the reason for the delay in providing these badly needed buildings and the other buildings of phase 1B, which were promised to commence in 2002 or 2003 at the latest. Was this due to her Department or the Department of Finance? Also, will the Minister provide the schedule of proposed commencement dates envisaged by the building unit of her Department for each of these buildings?

Finally, has the Minister or her Department plans to move the current activities of the South Campus to the North Campus, as envisaged in phase 2 of the institute development plan in 1998? I am sure she would agree that reuniting both campuses would enhance the quality of life for students and staff and save the Exchequer the extra costs incurred by the institute in running a dual campus arrangement.

Mr. Treacy

I thank Deputy Deenihan for raising this important matter as it affords me the opportunity to clarify the position regarding capital developments at the Institute of Technology, Tralee. I endorse everything the Deputy has said about the institute with which I am familiar since my time in the Department of Education and Science when I had responsibility for the institutes of education. Many past pupils of the Tralee institute and some current pupils are from my county and some have been reasonably successful in the game of football, although not quite as successful as Deputy Deenihan as yet. We salute the institute for the rounded contribution it makes to both the academic and extra curricular development of its students.

The Institute of Technology, Tralee, is an autonomous body and its day-to-day management is a matter for the institute's governing authority. Likewise, the management of large scale capital projects is fully within the domain of the institute's governing body. In December 2005, in the context of a budget day announcement of a €900 million multi-annual capital envelope for higher education, the Minister for Education and Science announced the approval of 35 major capital projects across the sector for advancement. Key priority projects were included on the basis of an earlier review of all capital projects in the sector. The projects included the development of facilities in a range of disciplines, including engineering, IT, research, digital media and business and enterprise. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that the library and information resource centre at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, was one of the projects approved to proceed at that time. While a number of these projects were announced for delivery through the public private partnership process, the library and information resource centre was earmarked for delivery through conventional procurement.

Accordingly, since December 2005, responsibility for progressing this project rests with the institute's governing body. The Department of Education and Science had expected to receive pre-tender documentation from the institute in December 2006, but to date this submission has not been received. Accordingly, such delays as are being encountered with advancing this project are outside of the scope of the Department to address or rectify. I assure the Deputy, however, that the Department is fully committed to progressing the project and is anxious to do so as soon as it receives the requisite material from the institute in Tralee.

With regard to the question of funding for other projects at the institute, these will be considered in the context of the prioritisation of new projects for delivery as part of the National Development Plan 2007-2013. In that context, the Deputy will be aware of the significant priority given to investment in higher education under the NDP, reflecting the significance that the Government attributes to investing in the sector generally.

As the Deputy is aware, the institute is currently located on two campuses. The institute's strategic plan is to integrate all facilities on a single site. The rationale for this strategy is the prospect of considerable operational efficiencies and growth opportunities for education in the institute. With this in mind, the Minister is aware that the institute is investigating the possibility of delivering a number of projects, including the student facilities building, and the health and leisure building, through alternative methods. Specifically, the institute is examining an expression of interest proposal.

In broad terms, an expression of interest is an exploration of the viability of providing a range of campus facilities with interested parties in the private sector. The institute advertised its expression of interest in the national media last September and I understand it has received a number of responses. However, the proposal is at the early stages of investigation. The institute will work to progress the process over the coming months.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and allowing me the opportunity to clarify the position with regard to capital developments at the Institute of Technology, Tralee.

The Dáil adjourned at 10.35 p.m. until10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 21 February 2007.