I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this question and I also thank the Minister of State for coming to reply to it. The teachers, parents and board of management of Kilrickle national school are disappointed — indeed despairing — at the failure of the Department of Education and Science to sanction the repairs and refurbishment plans for the school. The report of the inspector of the Office of Public Works for the work to the school at a cost of approximately £108,000 was forwarded to the Department in 1997.
The school was built in 1922 and has never received a grant for maintenance or upkeep other than a contribution some 15 or 17 years ago towards the provision of heating, most of which was raised locally. The Minister of State must realise that no Government has sanctioned funding for the maintenance and upkeep of the school for the past 75 years, which must be a record. As a result the list of the school's requirements is long.
I will mention some of the more serious requirements listed in the report. The electric wiring has been in place since electricity was first provided in the area more than 50 years ago and as a result it is in a very dangerous condition. It has perished in many places and is still used to provide power for the television, computer and other school equipment. If an inspection of that school was carried out, I am sure that under the Health and Safety Act it would be condemned or threatened with closure.
The roof is leaking and beyond repair and must be replaced as a matter of urgency because of flooding that takes place frequently in the school classrooms. The windows and doors are rotten and have to be repaired and patched frequently because of the effect of the elements. There is no drinking water for the pupils or teachers. It is horrific that the water supply to that school is carried in a bucket from a local private residence.
The Minister of State is familiar with the school and we cannot allow this situation to continue. The toilets are outdoor and there are no teachers' toilets. The bare wooden floors are noisy and mostly rotten and dangerous. The partition that divides the school into two classrooms is paper thin and totally unsatisfactory. I could continue, but the Minister of State has a picture of the condition of the school.
Despite all the work needed to be done to the school, the projections for enrolment in the school over the next three to four years show a steady increase of between 15 and 20 per cent. That is unusual in a rural area, particularly in County Galway and indicates a further urgent need to repair the school which the Department cannot ignore. Today a Department inspector visited the school and can verify the projected increase in enrolment over the coming years. It is hoped that by the year 2001 the projected increase in numbers will necessitate the appointment of an additional teacher to the school.
Another unusual feature of the school is that no file exists in the Department of Education and Science for it. Only recently has one been opened since the report was sent to the Department. That is an indication of what the Department contributed to this school over the years, nothing. Is there another school in the country with such a record? I request the Minister as a matter of urgency to grant approval for the school's modest request so that we can show we cherish all our children equally.
If approval for work to the school was given now, it could be completed by the start of the new school year in September 1998, with little or no disruption to school activity. The waiting has gone on for far too long. The misery must be stopped. The children are entitled to something better than this in education in 1998. I request the Minister to respond positively and to do so now.
Those children are as entitled as any other children to the provision of a general purpose area in the school for remedial teaching, which does not exist at present. It is unbelievable that school has only outdoor toilets. The Minister of State and I share the same constituency and he has a particular interest in this school. I ask him to sanction approval for work to be carried out to the school as soon as possible.
