I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, to the House. It is appropriate that he will respond to my comments, as he pays attention to matters in County Donegal as part of his national brief. I would like to discuss the difficulties being experienced by St. Mura's national school in Buncrana and Monreagh national school in Carrigans.
St. Mura's national school in Buncrana has been waiting for funds to be allocated so that it can be refurbished. There are great plans to redevelop the school. An extension to the school is planned because there is a lack of space there at present. Its principal has to conduct her office work in a classroom. The old-style two-room school in Buncrana was built in 1930. The school authorities are waiting for an announcement on when the building programme will be enacted. There is some confusion in this regard, as it has been suggested that construction will commence in 2004. I ask the Minister of State to commit to a date in his response. The parents of the pupils at St. Mura's are being punished for keeping the school up to scratch on a voluntary basis. The school should not be punished because it does not fall into the grant assistance category for developing schools. It should be kept on the list.
The case of Monreagh national school in Carrigans is somewhat different. It was built in 1853 and celebrated its 150th anniversary last weekend. The school authorities in Carrigans have asked for a new building. They would like the Government to commit to when the land acquisition deal will be signed. The board of management is embarrassed because it has engaged in fund-raising, in which parents have been involved. Those associated with the school want to know why the construction has not started, when it will start and if it will start. The board of management is seeking a commitment in this regard and I hope the Minister of State can provide it.
I welcome the increase of €30 million for primary and secondary schools in the budget. The small schools to which I refer are the 19 pupil school in Monreagh and the 40 pupil St. Mura's primary school in Buncrana, which are a microcosm of the education system. In that context, one must consider that €7.5 million is required to build one national school in Ennis, County Clare. I have serious reservations about where this money will come from for an overall national strategy. The boards of management of these schools do not want any more false promises or commitments. The board of Monreagh national school wants a start date for land acquisition so that the school building programme can proceed and the board of St. Mura's seeks a commitment as to when it can proceed with refurbishment.