I put down a Private Notice Question on this matter last Wednesday. I also sought unsuccessfully to raise it on the Adjournment and again on Thursday last. I am delighted to have the opportunity to discuss it tonight and I thank the Ceann Comhairle for facilitating me despite requests from about 12 other Deputies to raise matters on the Adjournment tonight.
My Private Notice Question last Wednesday asked the Minister for Education if, in view of the extremely urgent need for a new vocational school in Killarney, in respect of which £1 million was allocated in 1982, she will permit the County Kerry Vocational Education Committee to seek tenders for building the new school in 1984, and if she will make a statement on the matter having regard to the serious overcrowding and dangerous conditions in 16 prefabricated classrooms attached to the school.
Efforts have been made down through the years to get a new vocational school in Killarney. An extension to the existing school was proposed as far back as December 1967 and approved in May 1968. Developed sketch plans and estimates of costs were submitted to the Department of Education in July 1968. The plans were abandoned in 1969 in favour of a new school on a new site. It was August 1978 before the new site was purchased and the transfer of land took place. The delay in transferring the site was due to legal and title difficulties and also administrative difficulties.
The decision at that time to abandon the proposed extension in favour of a new school was the correct decision. It was a wise decision. Following the introduction of free post-primary education and a free public transport service to post-primary schools, there was a real expansion in post-primary education and in vocational education. An extension to the school could not have catered for the growing needs of the pupils and teachers.
There are now 426 pupils in the school as against 226 pupils in the early seventies. There are now 26 teachers in the school. Prefabricated classrooms total 16 out of the 22 classrooms in use on a very small site on the side of the street. Some of the prefabricated buildings are in an almost unworkable condition. The floors are made of chipboard which has disintegrated. These prefabricated buildings present a serious hazard to pupils and teachers. In bad weather it is quite common for some of the windows to be blown in.
I have the height of praise for the 26 teachers who work in very difficult circumstances in this school. They are working in grossly overcrowded conditions with the minimum of facilities. The school and the prefabricated classrooms are very restricted. I understand that £1 million was allocated to County Kerry VEC in 1982 for the building of a new school. They are still awaiting sanction from the Department to enable tenders to be sought and to proceed finally with the erection of a new school. I urge the Minister to issue sanction to the County Kerry VEC as soon as possible to enable them to seek tenders for the building of the new school. I understand the plans are prepared, sanctioned and approved. All that remains is for sanction to be issued.
The VEC, the teachers and the parents anticipated an extension of the school in the early seventies and were promised a new school in the mid-seventies. We are now approaching the mid-eighties and they are faced with the prospect of no improvement in the school for some years to come. The Killarney vocational school was overtaken by other schools which were not in the pipeline when the case for a new school in Killarney was conceded. The pupils, parents and teachers are becoming frustrated and disgruntled.
The existing school and the prefabricated classrooms are in a very bad location, one of the worst locations in the town, at the junction of an entrance to and exit from a major car park off one of the principal streets in the town. There is a serious traffic hazard in the vicinity of the school at all times during the day.
I understand the post office authorities, or An Post, are very interested in purchasing the old vocational school and the site to provide an extension to the existing post office in Killarney or for use as an annexe or as ancillary buildings to the new post office. In the existing post office there is gross overcrowding and additional facilities are required. In view of the interest of the post office authorities in this building and in the site, I recommend that a higher priority should be given to the issue of sanction to the County Kerry VEC to enable them to seek tenders.
There is a suitable site available for a new vocational school and it has passed all tests. It is ideal from planning, traffic and building points of view. The County Kerry VEC always gave Killarney a high priority but for some reason or another other towns by-passed the town in the queue for new vocational schools in recent years. Of all towns in the south of Ireland Killarney deserves top priority for such a building. The existing school is very dangerous. One must take into account the decaying state of the pre-fab classrooms, the overcrowded conditions and the unhealthy atmosphere in which teachers and pupils work. I implore the Minister to let this project out for tender as soon as possible so that work can proceed.
