A high standard has been set, today on the Adjournment debate, so I hope I am up to speed.
It is appropriate that we have had a debate on rural housing today. In this context we tend to talk about addressing depopulation and the decline of services, whether post offices, shops or schools. There is a connection as regards the corollary of depopulation and the decline of rural schools. The corollary is the positive aspect which arises in certain parts of rural Ireland, in particular Donegal, whereby development plans have been put in place to populate areas that were otherwise in decline. The specific area I am highlighting today is Portlean. Portlean national school is the victim of success. There has been an upsurge in the numbers of people moving to the area and deciding to rear their families in the locality.
Portlean national school is a two-teacher school with a core enrolment of around 53. Next year, however, that number will increase, and once it goes over 53 the school will require an extra teacher. At present, two teachers work in two classrooms. There is also a special needs teacher who must be facilitated in the staff room, which is not good enough. I am calling on the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, to act seriously as regards the need for a third classroom, plus a general purpose room to facilitate pupils availing of special needs education. The general purpose room will also be needed once implementation of the PE curriculum is announced, whenever that will be. However, many small schools are facilitated on a short-term basis through the provision of prefabs. This is a short-term solution, which is not good enough because two or three years down the line more space is required as enrolment increases. Portlean national school meets the criterion of the small schools initiative that works must cost between €250,000 and €400,000 similar to nearby national schools at Dromfad and Browne Knowe, which benefited under the initiative.
I ask the Minister of State to convey the strong representations of the board of management of Portlean national school for an additional classroom as a matter of urgency to the Minister for Education and Science. This can be achieved through the small schools initiative and I call on the Minister to deal with this case as a priority. It has been raised in the past through different mechanisms. For example, the Donegal members of Government have lobbied on behalf of the school. An initiative will be undertaken by professional lobbyists in the next two to three weeks. The school, staff and students require approval under the small schools initiative and I ask the Minister of State to follow up on this.
