I would like to welcome the Minister, who has spent a long evening with us, back to the House.
Adjournment Matters. - Kilavullen (County Cork) National School.
I want to thank the Cathoirleach for the opportunity to raise on the Adjournment the matter of Kilavullen national school and to thank the Minister for coming to the House. I want to ask the Minister to honour the commitments made to carry out urgently needed improvements at Kilavullen national school near Mallow in County Cork.
I omitted at the outset to say that I propose to share some time with Senator O'Toole.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Parents of the 135 pupils at the school are furious that the Minister has backed down on the written pledge given by the previous Minister, Deputy Davern, to allocate £100,000 for the renovations. Anger in the area is so great that parents withdrew their children from school in a one day protest yesterday to focus attention on conditions at the school.
The five teacher school which was built in 1907 is riddled with structural problems which constitute a serious hazard for pupils and teachers. Overcrowding is so bad that going to the blackboard or the toilet is hazardous. Classrooms are poorly ventilated and due to the high level of condensation fungus growth is common. There are no storage facilities in the school and no staff facilities. Cloakroom facilities are inadequate and there are only two sinks with cold water serving the entire school. Toilet facilities are outdoors and are effectively unusable, due to problems with the roof and defects in the drainage system. The school is in breach of its own safety requirements and if there is an accident, there could be claims for compensation.
No child should be educated and no teacher should be expected, to work under such conditions. They are a disgrace to our society, to successive Governments and especially to the Department of Education. These conditions may have been acceptable 50 years ago, but have no place in modern Ireland. The parents have raised the required £15,000 local contribution towards the estimated £100,000 cost of refurbishment. They have also provided two computers, three sets of encyclopedia, one photocopier and one keyboard from their own resources. Is it any wonder they feel let down by the Department of Education now?
I appeal to the Minister to give permission for the school management to invite tenders for the work without any further delay. This is the least she could do, in view of the fact that the documents were ready to go to tender in 1992, when the then Minister for Education sanctioned the funding for the construction work. The process would take time to complete and it would be the end of the year before any work would be done. The pupils and parents of Kilavullen have been kept waiting long enough and are entitled to fair play. I appeal to the Minister to allow the project to go to tender.
The Minister certainly inherited an extraordinary difficult situation in the building section. Although I have been critical on many occasions tonight, I would like to compliment the Minister for publishing a list for the first time of the projects undertaken during this year and for giving a commitment that this would be done in future. This opens up the system and I am grateful for that. However, that is of no help to the people of Kilavullen.
I was in Kilavullen national school and I will make a few points about the school. Yesterday morning I was dealing with aspects of the Green Paper on Education concerning the role of the principal as chief executive. There is no space for that in Kilavullen. I had never before seen a classroom so overcrowded. I have seen schools that are as bad physically worse but the curriculum cannot be implemented in that school. I am not exaggerating. I could not walk around the classroom because I would have to cross chairs or tables to get to the door. Apart from fire regulations or anything else the idea of implementing a primary school curriculum there is out of the question.
There are three sets of toilets in the school, and one set has been condemned. The roof is falling in, an there is flooding outside. There is a prefabricated building with three toilets catering for 105-115 pupils and they are smelly, unhygienic and dirty. In a brand new general purposes room there are three new toilets but the Department will not give the grant necessary to connect them up to the local sewerage system. This is a total contradiction.
I do not expect the Minister to defend this situation; that would not be her style, but what can one say to these people? With the building of a new classroom, they have made a huge effort to improve the school. When the Department would only give permission and money to build a prefabricated building last year they raised the additional money required and built a beautiful classroom. In the middle of all the substandard accommodation there is one "rolls royce" classroom with toilets which are not connected. Something has to be done.
I know the Minister will say that she got an extra £2 million from this year's budget and that is only a start. For a system with 3,500 schools, that money would not build 40 or 50 classrooms. It is heartbreaking for the exceptional staff of Kilavullen and I do not know how they maintain tbeir morale. However, there is a great esprit de corps among parents, teachers and management and because of his co-operation pupils get the best possible deal and numbers in the school are either increasing or are stable.
I freely admit that I get angry about education too often, but cases like this provoke me. The people of Kilavullen are doing everything right. They depend on the system and on people like me. Every time I meet them their anger is directed at me. Yesterday, I met a group from Ballynacally national school in Ennis and I know that school is disadvantaged also. They vented their ire at me, because I am the general secretary of the INTO. They are totally frustrated. I sent a note this morning to my lawyers to find out whether there is a breach of contract when a Minister fails to honour a commitment. Many will quote the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924 etc. as to where the authority comes from, but there is something morally wrong when the Department of Education can give a commitment in writing, and then renege on it.
I ask the Minister to give these people a break because they deserve it. Improvements cannot be carried out with the resources available to the Minister for this year. We have to obtain additional resources or move the thing forward. The people of Kilavullen put more money into their new classroom than the Department. This is a first and they deserve our support. I appeal to the Minister to respond to them.
Thank you, a Chathaoirligh. I am glad of the opportunity to tell the House the position regarding Kilavullen national school. I met a deputation of parents and the excellent teachers from there and I was impressed by the united front presented by public representatives of the area. They gave me a portfolio and photographs of the school and I am pursuing the matter as rigorously as possible. As a result of that meeting some small improvements have been made. The present accommodation at this school consists of four small classrooms and a general purposes room. The staff comprises a principal and four assistant teachers and the current enrolment is actually 136 pupils. On foot of the application which had been made for the provision of a permanent extension, my Department has approved a major building project involving the conversion of the existing four classrooms to two classrooms and toilets and the construction of an extension to include two standard classrooms and a staffroom. Planning of the project has reached tender document stage.
Because of other demands deemed to be of higher priority which gives one an idea of the desperate state of some school buildings, other projects obtained precedence in 1993. I acknowledge that this is a high priority project and it will be considered for inclusion in the programme as soon as possible, in light of the available resources and other commitments and priorities. We are beginning to move forward and to be able to indicate the projects which will be undertaken each year.
The Senator has referred to the threat to the health and safety of pupils and teachers arising from the present conditions. The only conditions at the school which could give immediate concern regarding health and safety, are those relating to toilet facilities.
The present toilet block is not currently in use because of the possibility of flooding and the collapse of part of the roof. It was deemed necessary from a health and hygiene point of view that temporary toilets be provided. This has been done and has been grant-aided by the Department.
Senator O'Toole referred to another new toilet block at the school which was provided in association with some accommodation provided by local initiative. Even though these alone would not suffice for the school in the longer term, necessitating toilet facilities to be provided as part of the major project now pending, the Department has made arrangements for those existing toilets to be connected to the local authority pipeline. As soon as this is done, it will obviate the necessity for the rented temporary toilets. An official of the Office of Public Works visited the school on Friday, 25 March to initiate the necessary arrangements. Senator Sherlock and his visiting party can take much credit for that. This further underlines the priority which is attached to this project in the context of the 1994 programme. I have instructed a senior official in my Department to visit the school within the next few weeks to examine the conditions, to speak to the interested parties and to report back to me.
To summarise for the Senator, remedial measures have been taken in relation to the inadequate toilet facilities. I accept these measures are not what the Senator wanted but, as a result of his deputation, we were able to move quickly. I accept that the major programme now at tender must be regarded as of the highest priority. I explained to the Senator's deputation — I am very careful of my words because I hope not to break any promise I give — that this project will be borne in mind when resources allow further major projects to be selected and to proceed. This is one of the few cases where I have instructed officials to proceed into the 1994 programme.
I commend the Deputies and Senators who represent the area and I commend the teachers and parents involved. It is a wonderful community and one which I hope will not suffer much longer as a result of the parsimonious nature of some Government Departments.