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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 6 Feb 1990

Vol. 395 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Jobstown (Dublin) College.

Deputy Jim O'Keeffe gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of the damage caused by recent floods and storms. The matter is in order but I do not observe the Deputy in the House. I propose therefore to move on to the second item chosen for the Adjournment Debate this evening. Deputy Pat Rabbitte gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of Jobstown college.

I wish to thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for giving me the opportunity to raise this very important matter this evening. Let me say before I commence my contribution that in the last few minutes Deputy Flood has asked me to allow him to be associated with this request. I propose to give him a minute or two of my time if that is in order.

We are talking here about a community of 7,000 people who were living, until 1980, in a green field area. Of this number 3,300 are under 14 years of age. At present 1,300 pupils are attending the senior primary school and 67 per cent of the people in the community are unemployed. Up until 1984 there was no primary school in the Jobstown area, so that the parents who moved there to live were forced to send their children to primary schools in Killinarden, Aylesbury, and Castleview. People who have no idea of the distances involved will not appreciate the hardship that was experienced with children having to travel long distances to school in bad weather.

This community of 7,000 people live almost entirely in public sector housing. There are no recreational facilities and no amenities in the area except the occasional corner shop. For example, there is no swimming pool and no second level school in the area which is not served by a rapid rail service. Indeed, the Codan report carried out in 1987 showed that 67 per cent of the people living in Jobstown were unemployed.

This is the background to the unique relationship between the school, teachers and parents in this area. The school is at the centre of community life and represents the aspirations of people that their children will do better than they were permitted to do in terms of educational opportunities. That community spirit is the source of the extraordinary, sustained and disciplined campaign being carried on by the parents to have a school built. I recall the principal of the primary school saying that it is being used by the community from 4 p.m. until midnight.

The college I am talking about was established in 1986 in temporary premises some miles away. The Minister supported the building of a college when in Opposition. It was expected when she came to power in 1987 that she would give the go-ahead for the school to be built. Unfortunately, in 1987 the parents became apprehensive about its future and formed the parents' action committee. The Minister equivocated throughout 1987 and the leaders of the parents' action committee paid her an unscheduled visit after she refused to meet them in her office in Marlboro Street.

In reply to a parliamentary question from the leader of my party, Deputy De Rossa, on 1 December 1988 she told him that she had decided not to go ahead with the building of Jobstown community college because "it was not justified". However the parents were not put off by this and following an extraordinary campaign led by people, such as their chairman, Tony Hubbard, Mick Billane and other parents in the area, they finally wrested a commitment in writing from the Minister on the eve of the general election in 1989 that the college would be built. Since then a number of parliamentary questions have been tabled. For example, on 24 October, she told me that agreement had been reached with the liquidator on the purchase price and that arrangements were in hand to complete the process. As recently as 13 January she gave a similar answer but indicated that that process had still not been completed. Construction work on the school was to commence in March to be completed by the start of the academic year in September 1991. It was envisaged that the initial class rooms and home economics school would be ready for occupation on 1 September 1990.

There are 292 pupils on the roll at present and a further 102 sat the assessment test. This means, give or take the loss of a few over the summer months, that there will be a need to provide accommodation for 370 pupils this September. In addition, on average between 160 and 180 pupils will come on stream each year from a single primary school in the area who will have to be accommodated every year thereafter until the end of the century. The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Deputy Harney, as described in the newspaper this evening under the heading "Bungling Blamed for School Delay", told a meeting last night that the delay in starting construction work on the controversial Jobstown community college in Tallaght was due to a bureaucratic bungle within the Department of Education. Obviously Deputy Harney has not learned that she is now in Government as she is still making Opposition-like statements. As of tonight, a site has not been acquired and the contract documents have not been signed. What is even more disturbing is that the construction date has been put back from early March to April. How is it proposed to have the school built by 12 September?

Perhaps the Deputy would now bring his speech to a close.

I indicated at the outset that Deputy Flood wished to be associated with this request.

He has not been left much time.

I will rest my case and leave it to Deputy Flood.

I am grateful to Deputy Rabbitte for giving me this opportunity——

I am sorry, Deputy, but time is very limited.

I ask you, a Cheann Comhairle, to bear in mind that there was a delay of about three minutes in starting. I wish to support my colleague, Deputy Rabbitte, on this issue and would like to refer to three pertinent points. The first is that we have a site which is being transferred to the ownership of the Department of Education. The legal formalities are holding this up in the Chief State Solicitor's Office. I ask the Minister of State at the Department of Education to ensure that from tomorrow every effort will be made to clear the logjam and to allow for the title of the site to pass to the Department of Education.

Secondly, the contract for the building of the general purposes classroom should be placed forthwith. These classrooms must be available from September to accommodate the need for the school. There is a tender procedure but I ask the Minister of State to convey to the Minister for Education the need to by-pass any difficulties or delays and to ensure that the tender is placed during the month of February.

Thirdly, I ask the Minister of State to ensure that in placing the contract there is an absolute condition contained in the contract which will bind the successful tenderer to have the classrooms completed and ready for occupation for the start of the school year in September. I say to the Minister of State that in September there will not be sufficient room in the present Brookfield College, as I understand it, to accommodate the needs of Jobstown school. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that efforts be made to get the contract under way now to ensure that the first phase for which the Minister for Education has given us a commitment will be completed and ready for occupation in September and that the final phase will be completed and ready for occupation in September 1991.

I wish to express my own appreciation to the parents' committee of the school who fought long and hard, whom we supported in every way we could and who in the end proved successful. I pay tribute also to the Minister for Education for finally yielding to the needs of the people in the area, for bearing in mind the special circumstances which pertain in the Jobstown parish and for ensuring that this parish is being allowed to develop to its full potential by having its own second level school building in the area from which we understand, although they are occupying an alternative building at present, they are achieving excellent academic results and excellent results in the other areas of the college's activities.

I thank the Deputies for the contributions they have made in raising this issue because it gives me an opportunity to report on progress which has been made and the difficulties which have existed in regard to the acquisition of the site for this school.

Let me say first in response to points Deputy Rabbitte made that the Minister for Education responded in a very positive way to the situation in the Jobstown area and to the demands for a new community school in that area, despite very significant financial constraints and other constraints placed upon her at the time. It is only fair that that be pointed out and that in a relatively short time, given the kind of delays that take place and are commonplace in the planning of major community school projects such as this, quite significant progress has been made despite some major legal difficulties which have been outside my Department's domain and which have caused the delays which have been mentioned here this evening. I am pleased to report that progress has been made on several fronts in regard to the acquisition of this site and the removal of some of the legal difficulties that existed.

The boundaries of the site for the college have been delineated by the owners' representatives and the survey of the delineated area has been completed by the design team. There have been very significant legal difficulties associated with the acquisition of the site, many of which were outside the control of the Department and which contributed in no small way to the delay in the acquisition of this site. These legal formalities are now being processed by the Chief State Solicitor who has been specifically notified of my Department's requirements. The design team are at present revising the tender documentation. The list of contractors interested in the project from whom tenders will be invited will be presented to the Minister this week together with the contract documents necessary to specify that certain classroom accommodation must be available by next September.

I assure both Deputies concerned that it is my Department's intention and that there is every reason to believe those classrooms will be provided on time. I conclude by saying we are well aware of the situation that pertains in Jobstown. We are quite satisfied of the urgent need to provide this school as quickly as possible. I assure the House it is my firm intention that the projected timescale which includes the provision of those classrooms for September 1990 will be met.

The Dáil adjourned at 10.15 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 7 February 1990.

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