I should like, first of all, to thank you, Sir, for allowing me to raise this matter and to thank the other Senators who also had a motion before the House for this evening, for giving way to me. This motion concerns a serious situation which has developed in Tuam regarding vocational education. The situation is that the vocational school is in a terrible condition. In this connection I should like to state some facts which may be hurtful but they are factual.
I shall, first of all, go through the history of the school so that Senators will be aware of the facts. In 1974 the Department of Education attempted to have a simultaneous development at the vocational school, Tuam, and the Christian Brothers school in Tuam with a common block to be shared at each school. It was known then as the Thurles Plan. This attempt was very unsuccessful. On 10 February 1975, County Galway VEC made official application to the Department of Education for a new school. The VEC subsequently submitted a schedule of accommodation for schools on 14 May 1975. In succeeding years, Athenry, Kilronan and Loughrea made official applications for new school extensions. The results of their applications were as follows: Kilronan got a large extension; Athenry got a large extension and Loughrea got a completely new school, notwithstanding the fact that their applications were made later than the Tuam application and also notwithstanding the fact that we have the greatest need because the Tuam school has the greatest number of prefabricated classrooms in County Galway, which is the second largest county in the country.
In 1980 the Department of Education requested the Galway Vocational Education Committee to establish a priority list among the four schools in the county where development was needed. A problem arose at this particular stage because of the local political input in the VEC by the local politicians on it. The committee were reluctant to do this and said that planning for all four projects should go ahead at the same time. That was a piece of day-dreaming. As a result of the committee's unwillingness to establish a priority, the Department wrote to the committee on 30 September 1980 proposing to commence planning for the vocational school in Tuam and the vocational school in Portumna. The Department's letter stated: "These schools have the greatest proportion of students in temporary classroom accommodation". That is an acknowledged fact. The committee at their meeting on 21 October 1980, by a majority decision, decided not to accept the Department's proposals and instead voted to proceed with planning for Ballinasloe and Gort. This is where the local polities of County Galway came into play and Tuam was deprived.
I should like to add that there was a time in the history of our country when Fianna Fáil controlled Galway County Council. On the occasion of the election in 1979 we failed to secure that majority and we had only one representative appointed from the county council to the VEC. Sadly, one can see the politics that were being played as regards vocational education, but not played by Fianna Fáil. The Minister is well aware of the facts.
Members of the school management board met Deputy Boland, the then Minister for Education, on 27 October 1981, at the official opening of the Athenry extension to express their plight and to ask that the Government intervene. On 2 June 1982 — the years are very important here, and the dates also — the Department proposed a new school for Tuam in a two-phase development. At the time this was not acceptable for a number of reasons. The requirement was that the old school be refurbished and a new extension built across the road which is the main Dublin-Tuam road — and is quite a distance away from the main offices. After discussions in the town, I led a delegation to the Minister, then Deputy Martin O'Donoghue, who agreed with the suggestions we had made that we should have a full new complex — the first desired request. On 30 July — and I am sure the Minister will verify all those matters for the House — a letter was received from the Department of Education allowing planning for a new building to proceed. On 8 October 1982 a planning and briefing meeting took place between the local architect and his team and the Department of Education's design team. This is normal practice when plans are about to be drawn up. On 17 January 1983, permission from the Department of Education to proceed with the outline sketches was granted and on 23 May 1983 the outline plans were submitted to the Department of Education.
The delay between the permission to proceed with the outline sketch plans and the submission at that time was due to the fact that the Department insisted on the use of a turf-fired central heating system, which was unacceptable to the school management board for various reasons. Negotiations on the matter took many months. On 20 February 1984 permission from the Department to proceed with the next stage of the planning, namely the preparation of the developed sketch plans, was granted. On 1 June 1984 the developed sketch plans mentioned already were submitted to the Department of Education, and after five months we are still waiting for the Department's approval to proceed to the next stage, namely, the seeking of tenders. This is where the matter rests at this particular moment with regard to the plans for the new school.
Tuam is a very famous town for teaching and is renowned throughout the country. I do not have to elaborate on that. Tremendous progress has taken place in all the many schools in the town and I shall give the House the opportunity of appreciating that fact. The Mercy Convent school has two new extensions; St. Jarlath's College has a new extension and a second extension has now been sanctioned; the Presentation Convent is a new school and the Christian Brothers' school is a new school, but in the vocational school there are 11 prefabricated classrooms which have far exceeded their original life-span. I shall deal with this particular aspect, as speed is what I expect from Minister Creed. I know that he is an understanding man and I hope he will appreciate that this is a serious situation.
We have 11 prefabricated classrooms in an incredible condition. They are dilapidated; the frames of the schools are actually rotting; the roofs are sagging and water is coming through the roofs and down through the wall panels. The classrooms during school hours are filled with every type of utensil they can get to gather the water dropping down from the roof. They have basins, buckets and plastic containers of all description scattered all over the classrooms. There is rain on the desks. But far more serious than that — and I want to bring this home to the Minister — the wall panels are so wet that the electrical works, that is the junction boxes and the plugs, are highly dangerous.
We have another new scourge just arrived now — vermin. On account of the decayed condition of the prefabricated dwellings vermin have easy access and it is a major problem today in that school. I say this because five months has gone by and there is no word back from the Department. We are waiting to advertise for tenders. I plead with the Minister here to go back to his Department tomorrow morning, to sanction those matters and get them out urgently as a matter of extreme urgency. I do not believe that any Senator here or even this Government would expect children, parents and teachers to work in those conditions. If there is any sense of heart left in the Department I hope they will use every means to finalise this as a matter of extreme urgency.
Parents will not send their children to school soon and that will be a major tragedy. Then we will have the new angle added to it, namely because of the dwindling numbers at the Tuam vocational school I am afraid we will not have to build a school at all. That is a serious situation. I said here last week — and Senator Bulbulia is here this evening — that I am afraid that this Government are not in love with vocational education and I had Tuam in mind when I said it. I am putting it to Senator Bulbulia, that if she had children going to that school she might hesitate to send them. I want a positive and complete answer this evening. For the sake of the vocational school in Tuam that has suffered agony for so many years I appeal to the Minister to respond to me in a most positive and exact way.
