I would like to share my time with Senator Kelly.
Adjournment Matters. - Rathkeale (County Limerick) Community College.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I welcome the Minister to the House and thank you a Chathaoirligh, for allowing me to bring this matter before the House.
This is the fourth time I have brought this issue before the House in three years. It is with a certain sense of frustration, moving towards anger, that we raise the matter again because it has been ongoing for 27 years. Rathkeale has been promised a proper second level school but we still do not see the problem resolved. We are asking tonight that the Minister gives a commitment to provide moneys to complete the school to be ready for next September.
The present conditions of the school are totally unacceptable and previous Ministers have accepted that this is the case. I should like at this stage to compliment the former Minister, Deputy O'Rourke, who paid a lot of attention to what we said and during her period in office we made considerable progress on this issue.
The prefab-type classrooms many of which are 26 and 27 years old are totally unsuitable for teaching or for learning. The area we are talking about includes not just Rathkeale but also Croagh, Coolcappagh, and Kilfinny, and schools in Aghalinn, Ballingarry and Granagh. The children are obtaining their education under deprived conditions. They are disadvantaged educationally by their conditions. The results they obtain each year are a credit to the school. They are above the average for schools in the country and I would like to compliment the Sisters of Mercy for the excellent work they have done.
It is 26 years since the Department and the then Minister suggested that the vocational school and Convent of Mercy should amalgamate to provide second level education. At that time it was a community school; it is now a community college because of changed circumstances. I will not go into all the details because I have gone into them at least three times previously.
There is no permanent school structure there. There is a series of prefab buildings creating many problems especially in bad weather where children and teachers have to cross yards to go to various classrooms or to go to toilets. They even have to cross a busy roadway to go between classrooms. The parents, teachers and the children are at their utmost limits and it is in all our interests that commencement of the construction should take place at an early date. I ask the Minister to recognise the urgency of the situation and request his Department to commence construction during this year.
In the past various problems have delayed the building of the school. There was a problem at one time because of demographic changes in the region and new plans had to be drawn up. These have now been drawn up and at present the County Limerick Vocational Edcuational Committee are amalgamating stages four and five. These will be completed, I understand, within three weeks and it will be ready for tender stage in three weeks time. Then the question of funding arises for the Department. I am asking the Minister to give a commitment tonight for funding to allow building to commence in 1993 and have it completed by the next school year as a matter of urgency.
I welcome the Minister to the House. I have personal experience of this school as about 12 years ago I was a substitute teacher there. The conditions then were bad; now they are worse. As Senator Neville has pointed out, the school consists of prefabricated buildings and they are located on either side of what was once a quiet street. Since the Rathkeale by-pass has been put in place what was once a quiet street is now a feeder road for the by-pass.
One day the school authorities counted the number of passing vehicles. The school buildings are located on both sides of the street. Between 8.45 a.m. and 9 a.m. 123 vehicles passed at a time when children were on their way to school. Between 11.10 a.m. and 11.20 a.m. and between 12.40 p.m. and 1.20 p.m. 47 and 87 vehicles passed, respectively. During both these periods children are on breaks.
The 200 female students have to use the toilet facilities in the girls' primary school. The boys on the other hand have to cross two school yards and two streets, to reach the toilet facilities in the boys' primary school. The prefabs are extremely damp, wet and cold in winter and uncomfortably hot in summer. The school provided me with figures showing that during 1991-92 it cost over £12,500 to heat the prefabs and over £9,000 to carry out maintenance repairs.
The school is at a crisis point, because they are obliged to return a room in the adjoining primary school which they have been using for home economics. This room is needed by the primary school to accommodate itinerant children who were refused admission in September 1991 and in 1992. Second level students in the area are being disadvantaged and vital space is being taken up which could be used for the education of itinerant children. Senator Neville will agree that Rathkeale has a very high itinerant population and badly needs to set up a system of education to enable these itinerant children to be integrated into society. I implore the Minister to treat this matter as urgent. As Senator Neville pointed out this unsatisfactory situation has prevailed for many years and it is time for action to resolve the problem.
I thank Senators Neville and Kelly for raising this matter. I am aware of Senator Neville's interest in this project which he has raised on a number of occasions and I assure the Members of the Department's commitment to the project. I acknowledge also, the need for progress in this case.
It will be appreciated that while this project has been in planning for a number of years, changes in circumstances, some of which occurred recently illustrate how the planning of large projects must often be amended even at an advanced stage. In 1983 the Sisters of Mercy informed the Department that they could not proceed with a new secondary school but were willing to participate in a community school and this development, with the agreement of County Limerick Vocational Education Committee, was approved by the then Minister for Education. Following this agreement the project proceeded in accordance with the standard building procedures of the Department. A site was acquired, a schedule of accommodation was agreed by the school authorities involved, a design team was appointed and architectural planning commenced.
Architectural planning proceeded and had reached the outline sketch scheme stage in early 1990 when, in common with all such building projects, the project was reviewed in the light of current and projected enrolments for the area, and in the light of the annual drop in births for County Limerick of 21 per cent between 1980 and 1988. Arising from this review it was apparent that the long term trend in pupil numbers indicated a requirement for a 400 pupil school rather than a 500 pupil school as was being planned until then.
The project is a major financial commitment costing possibly as much as £2 million in total. In view of this reduction in pupil requirement the schedule of classroom accommodation being planned, and consequently the architectural plans had to be revised in consultation with the school authorities. I should also refer to another very significant development which occurred towards the end of 1991 when the religious authorities involved decided to withdraw from participation in the proposed community school. Arising from this the then Minister for Education approved the development of the school as a community college under the aegis of the County Limerick Vocational Education Committee who are now responsible for the project.
In mid-1991 the vocational education committee were asked to request their design team to redesign the plans in the light of the changed circumstances. In August 1991 the vocational education committee's design team submitted the revised outline sketch scheme. This submission was carefully examined in the Department and further correspondence took place with the vocational education committee with regard to some additional amendments. In March 1992 the vocational education committee were given approval to proceed with the next stage of architectural planning. In addition in order to assist the vocational education committee in speeding up the planning of the project the Department has allowed the vocational education committee to proceed with the remainder of planning in accordance with an alernative streamlined set of procedures, normally only applied to smaller projects. This will illustrate the Department's commitment to assisting the vocational education committee to plan this project as quickly as possible. The Department is currently awaiting the submission by County Limerick vocational education committee of the next stage of architectural planning.
In November 1992 the final sections of the developed sketch scheme was submitted. Following examination of these proposals, the Department indicated to County Limerick Vocational Education Committee that subject to some amendments the project could proceed to the final stage prior to tender, i.e., the combined detail design/contract documents stage. This submission is now awaited in the Department.
I must point out, however, that while every effort will be made to assist the vocational education committee to complete the planning as quickly as possible, the project is not yet ready to commence to construction. Until the planning has been completed and tenders invited, it is not possible to give any indication of when building can start. However, I would like to assure the Senators that there will be no undue delay in having the planning completed with a view to commencement of construction at the earliest possible opportunity. As Members may be aware, the projects for 1993 have already been decided upon but the Minister and staff within the Department of Education are currently drawing up priority lists and these will be available soon. I hope this school will be seriously considered in that regard.
In light of the fact that the vocational education committee will submit the plans to the Department within three weeks I urge the Minister to ensure that priority is given to the commencement of construction in 1993 because it is availability of capital and not procedures and stages which will hinder construction.
I think the Senator would accept that a decision could not have been made prior to this because the plans had not been received in the Department. The plans, when submitted, will have to be examined.
I ask the Minister to do so this year.