Thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I also thank the Minister for coming to the House to answer me. I acknowledge the interest she has shown in the schools in County Kildare since she became Minister. If the Minister moves to greener pastures I hope she passes on that good habit to the new Minister.
In the short time available to me, I wish to mention the schools in question: Maynooth post-primary school; Confey College, Leixlip; St. Wolstan's Holy Faith secondary school, Celbridge and Scoil Ignáid Rís in Naas.
The school that probably has the least number of problems, Maynooth post-primary school, is one with which the Minister is familiar. It is probably the best furnished school of the four and has many facilities but is suffering from the effects of a fast-growing population. It is located in what is very much a developing area. All of the schools now are in what has been identified as the fastest growing area of population in the country with the exception of the Fingal area in Dublin. There are two matters in relation to that school that need attention. The first is that the site is somewhat restricted, and second, its recreational facilities are somewhat restricted as a result. There is also the outstanding matter of a sum of money for the fitting out of classrooms some years ago. That was not necessarily the responsibility of the Minister but I ask her to attend to it at some stage.
Confey College in Leixlip is located in a very fast-growing area of population. The vast majority of the buildings at that school are prefabricated structures which are unsatisfactory for the ongoing education of students and are not conductive to satisfactory facilities or good educational standards from the point of view of students, parents and teachers. I urge the Minister to provide the necessary finances in the Estimates to provide permanent classrooms.
St. Wolstan's in Celbridge, has the selfsame problem of several prefabricated structures. Classes have been housed in those structures for several years and the position is likely to continue unless the Minister makes a decision to rectify the problem and ensure the provision of adequate accommodation so that students and teachers will be able to carry out their work in a proper climate.
A similar situation exists in relation to Scoil Ignáid Rís in Naas. The school is under pressure as a result of a decision made some years ago by the Minister's predecessor not to proceed with a similar school in Kill. The result is that the school is under pressure, the number of applicants being turned away each year is increasing, class accommodation is restricted and, as a result, the standard that teachers, parents and pupils would like achieved is becoming more difficult to attain.
While acknowledging all the Minister has done so far I ask her to try to provide the necessary finances in the Estimates for the schools mentioned. If that is not done we may later find that generations of students going through those schools, with the exceptions of one, will be accommodated in prefabricated, unsafe, unfit classrooms and, as a result, not have a chance to avail of the high standards we would like to give them.