I thank you, Sir, for allowing me to raise this issue which is a major one in my home town. Scoil Chríost Rí is a Gaelscoil which has been in the area for the last 12 years, it has a complement of about 200 children and eight or nine teachers. The school building consists of prefabs and is unsuitable. Most people would agree that children running from pre-fab to pre-fab for classes is unsatisfactory. A new school has been built beside it and the pupils of the Gaelscoil share a school yard with it. This is a dedicated Gaelscoil which has been brought to the attention of the Minister for Education to note the conditions in it. Last year the teachers were lucky to get a staff room, a converted pre-fab which had been in use for the past 11 years. Recently they were lucky to recruit a secretary from a FÁS scheme but, to accommodate the secretary, they had to discard the toilet facilities in one of the pre-fabs.
I appreciate the constraints on the Estimates but I ask the Minister to give some consideration to including a figure in the Estimates either this year or next to provide a permanent school building on that site. There is a commitment to promote the Irish language and I would have thought there would have been an emphasis on funding for Gaelscoileanna. This school has been awaiting funding for 12 years and the pupils and parents have been patient over those years. It is only in recent times that they have become more vociferous and we should bear that in mind. They have picketed the Dáil and have been on television. I do not believe that such conditions exist in any other school and I ask the Minister to address this matter.
