I welcome the opportunity to raise this issue in the House because there is palpable anger in County Roscommon about the withdrawal of funding for three national schools, Roxboro national school, Ballyfeeney national school and Cloonyquin national school. All three national schools were given the green light prior to the general election, along with 92 other schools that have already gone to construction throughout the country. Colleagues of the Minister's party in Government made announcements in the local papers that sanction had been given by the Department of Education and Science to go to tender for these three schools, on the basis that it would be a formality that they would proceed to construction once the tender documents and bids were in order. I raised this issue in the House on 24 June and the Minister informed me that the schools in question were part of the extensive building programme for 2002, which had been approved earlier in the year. However, on 19 November the Minister, in a reply to me in the House, said that he could give no indication when the construction of these projects would commence. We now see it as a further U-turn by the Government on commitments giver prior to the election. It subsequently withdrew funding on its return to power. It is evident from the Minister's reply last June that funding was in place and yet, subsequent to the cutbacks during the summer, the funding was withdrawn. The three schools in County Roscommon have now been left high and dry and a blatant untruth was told to the people of County Roscommon. The parents, students and teachers have been given further broken promises. In its pre-election promises on education the Government stated it would ensure that no child would be in a substandard school. All three schools in question are in an atrocious condition.
Irish schools in general compare very badly with those throughout the EU. We have some of the largest class sizes and fewest back-up services in the European Union. The classroom I was in last night in Roxboro national school caters for 20 pupils yet there are over 30 pupils in it. The children's work cannot be hung on the walls of those schools because of sheer dampness. The work will not stick to the walls because they are so damp. The special needs children have to work in the corners of the hall due to the inadequate space in the school. In some of the other schools the special needs children have to be taught in cloakrooms. It is totally unacceptable in 2002 that pupils have to be treated in such an inhuman manner while receiving a basic level of education. These special needs children are already marginalised in school. To be taken out of a classroom and shoved into the corner of a hall or into a cloakroom further marginalises them.
The school in Roxboro, which I visited yesterday, closed two weeks ago due to a rat infestation. Part of the school in which the pupils are being taught is 150 years old. It has already been condemned and it is totally unsatisfactory to cater for the needs of the present pupils. I am appalled that hundreds of pupils and teachers throughout County Roscommon are forced to risk their health and safety by spending their school hours in grossly substandard classroom accommodation in tens of primary schools throughout the county.
There has been a €70 million cut in the budget for primary schools building programmes in 2003 and 2004. Next year €148 million is set aside for the construction of new schools and the refurbishment of existing schools. That could easily be subvented by the Government if it is prepared to do it and the Minister for Finance is prepared to tackle the issue of the SSIA schemes. If that scheme was withdrawn tomorrow morning it would save €150 million that could be ploughed into the schools building programme and would relieve the problems. I put this to the Minister in light of the fact that his colleagues in Government prior to the election gave a firm and solemn commitment that the schools in Roxboro, Cloonyquin and Ballyfeeney would receive approval. They have been given the green light for going to tender and the procedures in the Department of Education and Science ensure that funding is set aside once sanction is given to go to tender. They should be approved immediately in line with that commitment so that construction can start early in the new year.
