Vol. 512 No. 4
28 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Defence the reason his Department will not accept an application from Gaelscoil Chill Dara for an access to its proposed new school site at Lumville, the Curragh, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26173/99]
I am advised that the Department of Education and Science has indicated to my Department that it is considering the possibility of such a school being established on an alternative site.
This issue has been on the agenda for a long time in the Curragh. It is only recently that a proposal in regard to an alternative site has been mooted by the Department of Education and Science. The school's board of management and staff identified a site for which a narrow strip of land on the road leading to the site, not on the side of the Curragh plains, was required from the Department of Defence. I cannot understand how this strip of land, which does not form part of the Curragh plains itself, could not have been given to the school to facilitate the construction of another gaelscoil in the area. The current gaelscoil serves a wide area of mid County Kildare. The strip of land in question is only five yards wide. The Minister for Education and Science saw the site and did not seem to foresee any problems with it.
I am aware of the strong representations which have been made on this issue about which I have received previous representations from Deputy Wall. I intend to visit the site at the first available opportunity. The indications from the Department of Education and Science are that it is considering an alternative site. I am aware that the teachers and others are of the opinion that the school should be constructed in a more central location to cater for the school's wide hinterland. We must bear in mind that the traffic in the area would be quite heavy and that the Curragh plains are of immense architectural, cultural and historic significance and are classified as a recorded monument under the National Monuments Act. We must be careful about any decisions taken in that regard, particularly as the task force which has just reported to me is totally opposed to any further developments in the area. I will take on board the Deputy's comments and intend to view the site personally.
I am pleased that the Minister will re-examine this matter. One of the reasons I find it difficult to understand the change of attitude in this is that a hotel is already located in the immediate area and traffic there is quite heavy. The provision of the school would not create any further traffic problems. The Minister is correct in saying that teachers and board of management members want to retain the school's identification with the Curragh. If the Department of Education designates a site in any other town, the school, which has increased from a two teacher to a five or six teacher school, will lose the identity and reputation it has built up over many years.
Deputy Wall is a long-serving Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas and an old timer in terms of making representations. It is the oldest trick in the world to raise this issue again just because something else has happened in the area. I will take his views on board and assist in any way I can.
