With your permission, Sir, I wish to share my time with Senator Daly.
Adjournment Matters. - Ennis (Clare) School.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I thank you for affording me the opportunity of raising this matter on the Adjournment.
The Convent of Mercy's Holy Family primary school in Ennis is one of the largest schools in County Clare. It is situated in the county's principal town and provides hundreds of children with an education. The Holy Family school hall — the assembly hall for the school — was built over 30 years ago. Now the entire premises needs to be rewired and the electrical equipment replaced. This work needs to be done urgently because the safety standards are below par and do not comply with required standards. The school manager, the board of management and the principal have made a submission to the Department for grant assistance towards re-equipping and rewiring the hall.
I wish to impress on the Minister the importance of this facility, not just for education in County Clare but also for recreational, artistic, and entertainment purposes. The Holy Family school hall is not just used as an assembly area for the school itself but is also available to groups doing voluntary work, including drama and musical societies, the fleadh cheoil, etc. You name it and the Holy Family school is prepared to accommodate such activity. If the school was not available, many cultural activities would not take place in Ennis. It is because the school is there, and the board of management is prepared to make it available to the public, that such entertainment facilities can proceed. In fact, as we speak, the curtains are about to be drawn on the Ennis Musical Society's show South Pacific which was playing for ten days. The society is very successful and puts on a musical every year.
I again wish to convey to the Minister the importance of the school hall facility not just for educational purposes but also for all sorts of community activities. I am sure eputy Aylward, in his capacity as Minister of State at the Department of Education, recognises the importance of such facilities to the broader public. There is between £30,000 and £40,000 worth of work to be done and the board of management is not in a financial position to meet this expense. It is important that the board receive assistance from the Department of Education and I am requesting the Minister to prioritise this matter at a high level because unless the Department comes up with the necessary finance the school will not be in a position to undertake the necessary work. It would be regrettable if this hall was not available to the public, and the school authorities, for recreational and assembly purposes. I ask the Minister to look on us favourably and to come up with the necessary funding. The Minister has been very co-operative concerning many issues in the county in the past and I look forward to his co-operation and support on this issue.
I thank Senator Taylor-Quinn for affording me the opportunity to speak briefly on this matter. I also wish to thank the Minister of State for coming here. This question has already been raised with the Minister and there has been a negative response from the Department. I can understand the reasoning behind the Department's refusal to deal with this application. Nevertheless, in view of the case that has been made by Senator Taylor-Quinn and others, including the management of the Holy Family school hall, the Minister might reconsider the decision and make a small allocation to improve and replace some of the electric equipment in particular which is a cause of anxiety for those holding events in the school.
The Minister will be aware that the school's location is not far from the GAA facility to which he recently granted in excess of £100,000 for its development. While the Minister deserves congratulations for that, he will agree that the facilities in the Holy Family hall are a necessity. Although there are financial constraints on the Minister, it might be possible to find some way in which financial assistance might be provided for this hall. It is most desirable that this work be carried out as the facility is of great value to Ennis and the surrounding area.
The Minister administers an amenity grant scheme. Perhaps he would consider an application under the amenities scheme because this hall is an important amenity in addition to being an asset to the educational establishment in Ennis. I understand that the closing date for applications under that scheme is past but the Minister might consider an application for a small amenity grant at this late stage. We would be satisfied with funding from either the primary education budget or the recreation and leisure grant scheme as long as the work is completed.
I thank Senator Taylor-Quinn for giving me the opportunity to make my point.
I thank Senator Taylor-Quinn and Senator Daly for raising this matter and for giving me the opportunity to explain the circumstances in which the question of grant aid towards the cost of replacing the lighting and electrical fixtures at the Holy Family school hall, Convent of Mercy, Ennis, County Clare, is being considered.
The application for grant aid relates to the school hall which I understand has stage and dressing room facilities, can cater for large audiences and is used by many professional and community based groups in the county. Further to the receipt of the school's application, the Department's professional advisers inspected the school hall and furnished a report which indicated that the electrical and lighting fixtures were part of stage lighting. The provision of a stage or stage lighting is not a normal facility in general purposes rooms or school halls and has not been included in the planning and design of such buildings for primary schools. Consequently it has been the policy not to grant aid such additional facilities where they have been provided.
The moneys available under the primary school capital programme are targeted towards the provision of necessary additional classroom accommodation and towards the upgrading of sub-standard premises generally. The Senators will appreciate that the need for fair and equitable allocation of scarce resources will dictate that this general approach should be continued.
Accordingly, while I recognise the importance of the school hall as a community facility, I regret that financial assistance for the work in question may not be made available under the Department's primary capital programme. Consequently, financial assistance towards the cost of building or maintaining such a facility in the Holy Family primary school hall is not available from the Department's primary school buildings grants scheme.
However, I have noted the Senators' comments and particularly Senator Daly's reference to the recreation and sporting amenity grants scheme. Although there are thousands of applications in the Department as the closing date was last Friday, I would consider an application for this community based facility. Perhaps we could talk together about that.
I suggest that the matter be considered very soon. If the Minister would make a positive decision during the next week he could attend the closing night of South Pacific and make a presentation before a full House.
It would come from the County Clare allocation.
I thought the Minister would prioritise it and that there would not be a county allocation. I thought it would be a national priority.