On the adjournment I have given permission to Deputy Donnellan to raise the question of the provision of a gymnasium at Presentation College, Headford.
Adjournment Debate. - Headford (Galway) School Gymnasium.
It is obvious from the reaction of the Members of the House that they have not the same interest in the school in Headford as they had about events of ten years ago. I am sure that by the time I and the Minister will have finished there will be nobody but the two of us here.
This grant which I am talking about was promised to the Presentation Convent, Headford, and I put a parliamentary question to the Minister for Education on 11 November 1980 in which I asked if he was aware that the financial committee and the members of Presentation College, Headford, County Galway, are anxious to know the exact position regarding the £25,000 grant promised to them towards the cost of a gymnasium, as I termed it at the time, and if it was the practice of his Department to nominate a sum of money rather than a percentage of the cost in such instances. The Minister in his reply stated, and I quote from column 8, volume 324 of the Official Report:
It is anticipated that half of the grant will be paid early in 1981 and the balance in the second half of 1981 or early in 1982, depending on the availability of capital. The school manager has been informed accordingly.
He went on to say:
No set procedure has been established for determining the amount of grant to be paid to secondary schools towards the provision of physical education facilities. Each case is considered on its merits.
I asked the Minister then if he was aware that the total cost of the project was something in the order of £100,000. Indeed, now I think the total cost is £120,000. The reply I got from the Minister was that, whilst it would be paid, part of it might be paid in 1981 and the other part might be paid in 1982. As well as that the management of the school received a letter from the Department signed by an official of the Department, P. Ó hEighneacháin. The letter, which was in English, was addressed to the Manager, Presentation College, Headford, and stated as follows:
Re: Physical Education Hall
A Bhean Uasal,
I am directed by the Minister for Education to refer to your letter of 25 September, 1980 regarding your difficulty in securing a bank loan, and to inform you that it is anticipated that a grant payment of £12,500 may be made early in the financial year 1981 in respect of your project and that the balance of the promised grant (i.e. a further £12,500) in the latter half of 1981 or early in 1982, depending on the availability of capital.
Payment would be subject to the usual conditions of the Department's Building Grants Scheme, and would be a matching one against expenditure by the School authorities.
They understood the matching from the start.
For the information of the Minister, the management and the parents' committee in Headford have collected exactly £45,000 to date for this project, comprising £6,000 from the past pupils, £15,000 from direct fund-raising and the rest largely contributions from the community and parents of the children. Indeed, that contribution from an area of the size we are talking about, taking into consideration the average income of the parents of the pupils and the general community in that area, is magnificent and they must be lauded and applauded on their efforts to raise that amount of money.
However, the crux of the situation is that, having received this letter, which is dated 29 Deireadh Fómhair 1980, from an official of the Department, they went to the local lending institution, the local bank, with the letter and they found that as far as the bank were concerned it was not worth the paper it was written on. They could not raise any money except under their own signature.
I want the Minister to clarify the situation. As far as I can see there is goodwill on the part of the Department in this issue, but the answer to my question and the letter sent by the Department to the Manager of Presentation College, Headford, suppose too many things in regard to the availability of capital and so forth, and the management of the college are not altogether satisfied with this. It is fair also to say that the junior Minister in Government indicated that there was no bother at all with the money that we are talking about. Now we find that things are not exactly as they should be and there is anxiety in the area as to whether it will be paid at all. That is the reason why I have raised this matter on the adjournment.
For the information of the Minister, this school is situated in an area where there is no other secondary school. It is about 16 miles from Galway, 14 miles from Tuam and a long way from Ballinrobe. It has been represented to me as the second co-educational school in the county and I have no reason to believe otherwise. The performance of the school over the years is as follows: First year enrolments: 1974-75, 99; 1975-76, 104; 1976-77, 110; 1977-78, 112; 1978-79, 122; 1979-80, 130; and 1980-81, 132. Number of pupils on rolls from 1967 to 1980-81: 1967, 241; 1968, 296; 1969, 308; 1970, 310; 1971, 328; 1972, 351; 1973, 383; 1974, 387; 1975, 432; 1976, 462; 1977, 466; 1978, 482; 1979, 510 and 1980, 520.
As I have said, this is the only post-primary school in the area between Galway and Ballinrobe. It was originally built by the Presentation Convent sisters in the fifties and was completed at their own expense. The only contribution from the Department was to an extension in 1975.
One assumes that the Minister for Education and his colleagues are already trying to divide whatever finance is available for educational purposes for 1981. In relation to the entire Estimate for Education, £25,000 is only a drop in the ocean. I am not satisfied with the answer I got to the question and the manager of Presentation College, Headford, is not satisfied with the letter received from the Department. The Minister should make provision in the Education Estimate for the coming year so that there will be no "ifs" and "buts" about the £25,000 and so that it will be paid early in 1981. Talking about matching on a pound for pound basis, taking into consideration what I have said, the fact that £45,000 has been collected, the need for a physical education centre there, the need for the development of the student and the number of facilities of this kind in the western region in comparison to the number of similar facilities available in other parts of the country, we ask the Minister to pay the £25,000 as a matter of urgency early in 1981. The Minister should also consider giving a further grant so that this project can be completed and, as a result, relieve the anxiety that exists in relation to the hall and the anxiety that exists among the fund raisers. It would also relieve the anxiety of the parents and pupils of Presentation College and the committee governing the school.
Deputy Donnellan deserves a certain amount of grudging admiration for pursuing this matter of the physical education facility in Headford.
Why "grudging"?
I withdraw the adjective "grudging". He deserves some admiration for it because, as the House knows, Deputy Donnellan was a very highly skilled athlete, the demon of Dunmore, the greyhound of Galway. I always admired his skill and I am sure he has always had a great regard for physical education and for physical educational facilities. For that reason I wonder why in July 1976 there was no cri-de-coeur from Deputy Donnellan when his own Minister Burke stopped providing money for any physical educational facilities whatsoever. I did not hear from Deputy Donnellan at that time. I know a generous heart beats above those supple limbs that were used for the success of Galway in his time. I find it very hard to understand this absorption with the Headford physical education facility because, after all, unlike his Minister, I am making some financial provision for physical educational facilities in that convent.
It is fair to say that the Minister for Education at the time provided the money for the extension.
The cry that should have come from Deputy Donnellan at that time is coming now and the cry is coming in a different context, when something is being done for physical educational facilities in the post-primary schools. It might have wakened Minister Burke at that time if Deputy Donnellan had thought it worth while to say "You are depriving the people of my native Galway of physical education facilities. You stopped providing any money whatsoever for physical education anywhere in the country — Galway, Kerry, Cavan or anywhere else." At the time this was regarded by everybody as a retrograde step, stopping the provision of money for physical education halls in the schools or any money in aid of physical education in the schools. The very fact that this huge backlog was created at that time has made my position much more difficult, and I do not deny it is a difficult one. I am concerned with the provision of physical educational facilities. We have one of the finest physical educational colleges in Europe — Thomond — and we are training highly qualified physical education teachers. I regard the physical education hall in much the same way as I regard a laboratory as far as the science teacher is concerned or a workroom as far as the teacher of practical subjects is concerned. For that reason I took a decisionn to resume the provision of physical education halls. I did that although I was fully conscious of the heavy task of providing ordinary classroom space for an increasing population and other heavy demands on the capital resources of the Government.
Let me say a word or two about capital, as it is the kernel of the issue as far as Deputy Donnellan is concerned. He has mentioned that I have provided £25,000 for the Headford Convent. Quite frankly, I thought he would have thanked me and be glad that in the economic circumstances, in the midst of a recession, I am still providing some money and facilities for physical education.
I am thanking the Minister.
Despite the recession and the economic difficulties I have continued with the provision of some money for physical education halls and in this case the provision of what I regard as a generous sum of £25,000. There is a big demand all over the country for this type of facility. I am receiving representations day in day out from schools for the provision of such facilities. I have an ordered programme for the provision of such facilities. The big millstone around my neck is that lacuna that existed when the Coalition Government were in office and when they suspended the provision of all moneys for physical education facilities.
You are blaming them for everything.
No, I am not given to that kind of thing, but I am talking about facts — fair, blunt, stubborn facts. I cannot understand what Deputy Donnellan is cribbing about. I do not know whether the bank managers in the west of Ireland are more hardhearted than they are elsewhere. All I can say is this and repeat it for Deputy Donnellan ——
Does the Minister not take my word?
——if it is for the comfort of Deputy Donnellan or the comfort of anybody else. I got no letter from Headford Convent stating that they were not glad to receive the £25,000, and I can tell Deputy Donnellan here and now that there are no "ifs" or "buts" about the provision of that £25,000.
Good, that is what I want to know.
And he can take that to any bank manager who happens to be a friend of his, on my word, take that statement to him and tell him——
On paper.
——and he will in fact find that on this, as on every other occasion when I make a promise or give my word in this House, I stand by it.
Tá áthas orm go raibh an faill seo agam labhairt leis an Teach agus geallaim don Teachta thall go bhfeicfidh sé anseo beart de réir mo bhriathar.
The Dáil adjourned at 8.55 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 26 November 1980.