Is Gaelscoil i gceartlár Bhaile Atha Cliath le níos mó ná 100 dalta Scoil Chaoimhín agus tagann roinnt mhaith de na páisdí sin ón cheantar morthimpeall Sráid Mhaoilbhríde, ceantar fíorbhocht den chuid is mó de.
Is í an tAire patrún na scoile seo. Is leis an Roinn Oideachais an foirgneamh breá atá acu agus tá an Stát go hiomlán freagrach as. Tá Gaelscoileanna ar an láthair seo ó 1927, an bhliain a bunaíodh Scoil Cholmcille, Scoil Mhuire agus an scoil ullmhúcháin. Thug an Roinn an suíomh iontach seo dóibh beagnach taobh istigh de gheataí na Roinne. Tá an scoil suite díreach treasna ó oifig an Aire. Is i 1983 a tháinig na Gaelscoileanna le chéile ar an láthair seo nuair a bunaíodh Scoil Chaoimhín. Tugadh geallúint dóibh ag an am sin go mbeadh an foirgneamh sin acu i gcónaí. Tá dóchas agam nach bhfuil sé i gceist an ghealliúnt sin a bhriseadh.
There is a long and proud tradition behind Scoil Chaoimhín stretching back to 1927 when its two predecessors were Scoil Colmcille and Scoil Mhuire. They were amalgamated in 1983 and called Scoil Chaoimhín. The parents, teachers and pupils are rightly very protective of the tradition and ethos that they have built up and provide in the very splendid school building which they occupy. Scoil Chaoimhín is an undoubted success story with 108 children at present and 40 new names on the enrolment list for September of this year.
In recent years the number of local children, some from very disadvantaged backgrounds, has increased substantially. These children do not come from Irish speaking homes and it is a great tribute to their parents and to the children themselves that they accept the challenge of being educated through the medium of the Irish language.
I know the Minister has visited the school and I am sure she was impressed by everything she saw. It would not be in the interest of a Gaelscoil such as Scoil Chaoimhín to be relocated into the midst of an English speaking environment. Such a move could prove very destructive of everything that the Gaelscoil has achieved so far. This is but one concern of teachers and parents alike. On an even more practical level the existing school building has all the facilities which many more modern schools aspire to have. There is a school hall and gymnasium, a music room, kitchen-cum-diningroom, staff room and principal's office. Indeed, the toilet facilities were recently refurbished at a cost of several thousand pounds.
I am aware of schools which do not have any of these facilities. I am sure the Minister has a long list of schools seeking grant aid for additional facilities such as I have outlined. Certainly there is a huge demand for refurbishment grants throughout the country to improve dilapidated and substandard school buildings. The Minister is more aware than anyone of the scarce resources available to her and the acute inadequacy of the funding available to her to provide for the needs of many schools crying out for help with refurbishment.
It is in this context in particular that it is quite incredible that between a quarter and half a million pounds can be readily made available to relocate Scoil Chaoimhín out of a sound school building, a building with huge potential against the wishes of everyone involved — parents, teachers and local public representatives. Ironically half a million pounds is precisely the amount of money that another Gaelscoil in another area of the inner city, Gaelscoil Coláiste Mhuire, needs urgently to refurbish its school building.
I really do not see any sustainable argument for spending very limited and desperately needed resources to provide a new school building for a school that clearly does not need it, and more important, does not want it. A very small amount of money could carry out the necessary repairs to the roof of the existing building and perhaps some interior decoration. Perhaps the Minister would consider using the remainder of the money that is apparently available to grant aid Gaelscoil Coláiste Mhuire and in so doing kill two birds with the one stone.
One other important aspect is the complete failure on the part of the Department of Education to consult anyone in the school, board of management, teachers or parents. It was the parents themselves who heard rumours of the relocation plan in February of this year. They urged their board of management to write to the Department to establish whether the rumours were true. The board of management wrote on 2 April 1993 and they received a reply on 5 April — significantly the reply was dated 2 April — informing the board that it had been decided to relocate the school. A meeting was only held between the board and Department officials on 23 April. I emphasise this because the written reply I received from the Minister yesterday seemed to suggest there was consultation. The facts are that the board of management of the school was told, and only after the decision was made, that the matter was not open for discussion. I deplore that type of treatment of any school authority. I again urge the Minister to reverse this ridiculous decision and allow Scoil Chaoimhín to plan ahead in full confidence of continued success.
