The matter I should like to raise on the Adjournment is not contentious, and obviously to the press people who do not normally accommodate us in this House, it is not very important either. I want to speak about the possibility that a school in Kilkenny may close down. I said this is non-contentious.
I feel I am pushing an open door when I suggest that the Mill Hill Fathers' College in Kilkenny should remain open. This year Mill Hill College in Freshford, County Kilkenny, celebrated its 50th anniversary. Now there are reports that certain people within the Department of Education would like to see this school closed down. Historically, the Mill Hill Fathers' College in Kilkenny has been an educational establishment known worldwide because of the fact that it was a juniorate or a novitiate for the Mill Hill Fathers. From Freshford priests went to the foreign missions. Not alone did they go out to educate people in Third World countries, but they were also educated themselves in the agricultural/horticultural spheres. They gave formal education to people in those countries and showed them how they could get sustenance from the land. In some of the countries in which these people served it was said that if you stuck down your thumb your nail would grow, but the people had to be educated in agriculture and horticulture.
One of the problems we have in this modern age is that fewer people are going forward for the Church and, because of this, the numbers in the novitiate or juniorate in the Mill Hill Fathers' College started to dwindle. Ten years ago a decision was made to open the college as a boarding school on a limited basis. As such it has provided a wonderful service to a number of people from surrounding counties. There is no doubt that the service provided for people outside Kilkenny, and a limited number in Kilkenny, can be continued. The Mill Hill Fathers have now agreed to transfer the college buildings to a local committee headed by the teachers in that college. They will give that college to the nation, if you like, free of charge.
In the college at present there are five full-time lay teachers. One teacher is shared with another college in the county, and there are two priests. In the college at present there are approximately 100 students. The suggestion from the community is that the community will take over the school, that it will be run on a shared basis by the teachers and the community, and that the college authorities will give the building to the committee for a very nominal sum.
A survey carried out in the immediate region of Freshford shows that, in the next academic year starting in September, there will be 43 pupils available, without taking any pupil from any other school. The people who carried out this survey were very careful not to impinge on the areas which are served at present by schools in Kilkenny, Castlecomer and Johnstown. As the committee see it, a 43 pupil intake would provide a 200 pupil secondary school within a five year period. That is taking into account only the Freshford national school and the Clontubbert national school. The Freshford national school principal, who I am glad to say is the President of the INTO. has a magnificent grasp of the educational needs of that area, and not alone of the area, but of the whole country. I refer to Mr. Tom Waldron. That primary school is a 300 pupil school. The Clontubbert school is a 70 pupil school approximately.
Within the Department of Education it is suggested that the Kilkenny school could not survive as an educational entity, and that it would hinder the growth of a new second level education school in Johnstown, County Kilkenny, which is under the aegis of the VEC. The Department of Education have been totally wrong in County Kilkenny before, as they have been totally wrong in many other areas. I am not blaming individuals within the Department; I am talking about policies which came from the Department. In County Kilkenny, Graiguenamanagh vocational school was to be closed down. It was suggested it could not be sustained because of the small numbers attending. That school is now very viable and an important part of the community. We were told the Ballyhale school could not survive. We were told the Mooncoin school could not survive. We were told the Glenmore school could not survive. We were told the Castlecomer school could not survive. Each of these schools is now a very viable school. The suggestion initially from the Department of Education was that they should be closed down because they were nonviable educational establishments.
We have seen through the years the problems created at primary level when small local schools were closed and bigger regional schools were built. We now see the problems which have arisen because of that policy. It does not behove me to say who dictated that policy, but the cost of bringing children from areas in which there were small schools to regional schools is not alone a heartbreak and a financial burden on the parents but also a heartbreak and a financial burden on the Department of Education and on the taxpayers.
In Freshford we have a viable school. If it is allowed to remain open, which I sincerely hope it will be — and, indeed, nobody has told me it will not — in September pupils will not have to be bussed to it. It is viable within its own locality. At present we have children from Freshford being bussed to Kilkenny. They are being bussed to Johnstown and they are being bussed to Castlecomer. If the Freshford school closes down, there is no possibility of an intake into St. Killian's College, no possibility of an intake into Loreto Convent, no possibility of an intake into the Presentation Convent, no possibility of an intake into St. John's College, and no possibility of an intake into the vocational education system in Kilkenny.
In the past year a problem arose in Kilkenny city. Because of overcrowding in schools, at the end of the intake of pupils to all the schools and colleges in Kilkenny, there were only 18 places left, and I have named the particular schools. This year, because of increased numbers in the primary section, it looks as if these schools will be closed to new pupils because of increased numbers in the primary schools.
In an age when capital input into education is so high, it would be disgraceful if an educational establishment such as Freshford were allowed to close. In Freshford we have a local school which has served the community very well. It is a modern building built about 24 years ago. The cost today of replacing that building would be in the region of £2.5 million. They lack only facilities for metal work and for domestic science. The reason for the lack of these two facilities is that up to now these two subjects were not taught in the school. The people in Freshford would like to see these two subjects being catered for. The capital cost would be neglibile because of the fact that the building is there. The only cost would be the cost of providing cookers and utensils in the domestic science area, and metal work equipment in the other area.
At a time when we have a proliferation throughout our educational system of prefabricated buildings nobody in the Department of Education should consider closing down a school which is modern, which will serve a local community without cost to the State, except the cost of the teachers' salaries involved. If they are let go, not alone will there be a loss to the State in terms of the educational abilities of these teachers, but there will also be a loss in educational terms which cannot be sustained in the Ireland of today. We are short of money to build schools.
I am not raising this matter in a contentious way. My colleague, Senator Browne from County Carlow, attended a public meeting in Freshford on this issue, and Deputy Dowling, who is also in the House. It was the best attended public meeting I have seen. It was a public meeting at which there was the commitment from the people of the locality to the educational needs of the locality. It has been suggested that, if this college is allowed to continue it will be to the detriment of the vocational education system in Kilkenny. This is not the case. The numbers involved in primary education in Kilkenny are growing and the need for buildings and educational facilities in Kilkenny is growing at the same rate as it is growing in every other county.
If we cannot sustain that building, that educational establishment, we will be letting down the people in the immediate area, and not alone the people in the immediate area of Freshford, but also the education system. Over 50 years that school has provided academic facilities which could not be provided in a big multi-teacher school. The educational facilities of that school have to be sustained. I have seen the difference between pupils who come from a small integrated school and pupils who come from the 1,000-plus pupil schools. I ask the Minister to give us a statement of intent regarding the school. I have laid before the Minister what I consider to be a matter of paramount importance in the education system, not alone within the immediate Freshford area but for the country as a whole.
