Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 October 2023
6. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Education if her Department has examined the substandard condition of buildings at a school (details supplied) in County Clare; if she will give consideration to approving a major capital project to renovate and extend these buildings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44808/23]
View answerLast week, I took a spin out to Kilmurry McMahon National School in the beautiful west Clare area. I met with the teachers and the pupils. I am very concerned about the state of the building. I ask the Minister if she can offer some hope that it will be extended or improved in the near future.
I confirm to the Deputy that an application for major capital funding has been received from the school in question.
There are significant demand pressures on the school system at present arising from demographic growth, the need to align school place provision with housing developments, increased demand for special educational needs provision and the accommodation of children from Ukraine.
Under Project Ireland 2040, in excess of €5 billion will be invested in school infrastructure during the period 2021 to 2025. The Deputy will appreciate the Department's priority in recent years has been providing additional capacity to ensure that every child has a school place, including children with special educational needs, and this continues to be the case.
The application from the school in question was assessed under the additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and special educational needs, SEN, accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school's existing accommodation. At primary level, this situation generally arises to cater for a school's accommodation requirements where an additional teaching post has been sanctioned by my Department, or a new special class has been sanctioned by the National Council for Special Education, and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes.
The Department has indicated to the school authority in question that it is willing to provide modular accommodation for a special education teaching room at the school. The Department awaits a reply from the school authorities in relation to this. It is also open to the school in question to apply for my Department's emergency works scheme, which will consider applications for funding to address any immediate health and safety issues.
The main focus of my Department's capital allocation over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of critical additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics. The Department is required to manage the overall school building programme so that we target and prioritise areas that are under greatest pressure for additional school places. This reflects our fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.
The Department has a strong track record of project delivery. From 2018 to 2022, nearly 900 school building projects were completed under a variety of delivery mechanisms. Some 300 projects are under construction during 2023, of which 40 are new school buildings.
The overall position with regard to potential modernisation and upgrade of existing infrastructure will be kept under review as capital funding allocations are clarified.
Kilmurry McMahon National School was built 57 years ago, in 1966. It is one of the last remaining flat-roof schools in Ireland. As for the walls, there are concrete pillars between the classrooms and then PVC wall panels in between that are not insulated. On the day I visited, water was leaking into the room. Classrooms are being continually flooded and children have to reposition bags and wear coats throughout the winter months.
This school was created when Drumdigus and Tullycrine national schools amalgamated in 2014. As part of that amalgamation, the school inherited an old prefab. It now sits on site. It is supposed to be a special education teaching, SET, room but part of its roof is missing. I am very concerned because the principal and secretary double up their office space with a cleaning room. The staff room doubles up as a SET room. Enrolment is on the increase even though it is a very rural part of the county. I welcome there has been some movement on a modular building but I am extremely concerned about the state of the old building of bricks, mortar and PVC panels. It is simply not fit for purpose. I would love for the capital application to be looked at again.
I appreciate the Deputy’s advocacy for the school. The Department has made an offer to the school in respect of a special education teaching room. We await the school’s engagement on that. For any issues that might be regarded as an emergency and for some of the issues the Deputy mentioned, there is a very clear pathway to make emergency funding made readily available to schools if there is a need. I do not want there to be any doubt about that.
As I said, we keep everything under review in the context of the capital envelope we have. More than 300 buildings are at various stages of construction, of which 40 are new school buildings. In the coming months, the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform will engage with other Departments, including my Department, on NDP allocations for the 2026-28 period, with allocation decisions expected during the first half of 2024. In the interim, my Department will continue to engage with the authorities of the school in question with respect to accommodation needs.
While the Minister’s reply is positive, I hope her officials will look at the bricks and mortar building. The day I visited, we stood outside the classroom in which fourth, fifth and sixth class pupils are being educated. The whole PVC wall can be rocked over and back. It is not safe or sturdy and needs to be replaced. I am not a builder and have no engineering experience - the Minister and I are both from the teaching profession – but the obvious thing to do is to remove the PVC panels and most of the windows, which are mostly single glazed, and replace them with bricks and mortar that can withstand the wild Atlantic weather that blows in across County Clare every day of the year. I welcome the news of the modular build for the SET classroom. I am pitching to the Minister and her officials, in whom I have every faith, that they take a fresh look at the full school building. It goes beyond emergency works and ad hoc funding schemes. I hope the matter can be looked at holistically because the building in Kilmurry McMahon National School, which was built in 1966, is no longer fit for purpose and needs a full overhaul.
The Deputy has highlighted a short-term and a long-term vision for the school. I restate that if there is any issue with safety that is causing difficulty in the school, the way forward is through the emergency works scheme, which will be made available to the school to meet its needs.
Provision is being made for special education teaching, which is positive. We have an ambitious building programme, with over 300 school buildings at different stages of development. The programme is kept under constant review. I spoke of our engagement with Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform on the NDP and its allocations. We should have some word on that in early to mid-2024. In the interim, I am very happy for my Department to continue to engage with the school in question.
