I ask the Minister for Education and Science to outline the up-to-date position with regard to Scoil Charman, Wexford. When will the construction of the school's permanent buildings proceed and when will adequate ventilation be installed at its temporary accommodation? I was asked to raise the matter by a Labour Party member in one of the local Wexford branches. While I do not know much about the issue, I raise it because it is very important to the local area and the Labour Party member concerned whose children attend the school.
Adjournment Matters. - Schools Building Projects.
Gabhaim buíochas don Seanadóir as ucht na deise seo a thabhairt dom tuarascáil chruinn bheacht a chur faoi bhráid an tSeanaid ar an ábhar seo ar son an Aire Oideachais agus Eolaíochta faoin iarratas le suíomh buan do Ghaelscoil Charman i gcondae Loch Garman.
Scoil Charman was granted permanent recognition on 26 January 1996. Consistent with the standard practice which applies to all newly formed schools awaiting permanent accommodation, responsibility for the provision of temporary accommodation rests with the school's management authority. It is the statutory responsibility of a school's management authority to ensure the accommodation it provides for its pupils and staff complies with relevant health and safety legislation and building regulations. Notwithstanding this responsibility, the school is currently accommodated in a vacant factory unit for which the local authority has not granted planning permission for change of use of the premises. The school management authority has appealed the local authority's refusal in this matter to An Bord Pleanála and, the Minister for Education and Science understands, re-applied to the local authority for change of use permission. All in all, this is a very unsatisfactory state of affairs.
As a minimum measure, it is not unreasonable to expect that a body charged with the overall management of a school would not occupy a building in respect of which the local authority has not granted planning permission for use as a school. The Minister for Education and Science is, however, pleased to be able to re-assure Senator Tuffy and the House that his Department is committed to providing permanent accommodation for Scoil Charman. The Department has bought a four acre site on which it is planned to build an entirely new eight classroom school. Architectural planning of the new school is at an advanced stage. When precisely the project will proceed to construction depends on resources. No decisions will be made in respect of this matter in advance of the publication of the 2004 schools building programme. The Department of Education and Science expects to be in a position to publish the 2004 programme early in the new year.
The Minister for Education and Science wishes to draw the Senator's attention to three additional and relevant matters. The Department of Education and Science is providing 95% grant aid toward the cost of the temporary accommodation in use by the school in question. Additionally, the Department has contributed towards the cost of conversion works to the ventilation system. Finally, and perhaps most crucially, early last year the Department of Education and Science indicated to the school's management authority its willingness to provide temporary accommodation on the site of the new school. This offer was made in an effort to alleviate the difficulties associated with the unsatisfactory temporary accommodation sourced by the school's management authority. The offer was repeated this year and has been refused a second time. The Minister for Education and Science urges the management authority to re-consider this offer in the interest of the welfare of the school community that it serves.
Tá mé sásta go bhfuil an tuarascáil seo ar fáil don Seanadóir, go bhfuil eolas breise aici don scoil, go mbeidh seans ag an Aire agus an Roinn socrú a dhéanamh don scoil agus suíomh buan a réitiú sna blianta romhainn.
On a point of order, the Minister of State's reply made no mention of the timing of the installation of an adequate ventilation system.
If the Senator studies the reply in detail, she will find that it would have been unwise of me to make a commitment on adequate ventilation in a building which does not have full planning permission. An application has been made to obtain planning permission which will take care of the whole matter. If planning permission were granted, it would help to resolve the matter. That is my interpretation.
The Seanad adjourned at 6.55 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 5 November 2003.