Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 20 May 2003

Vol. 567 No. 1

Schools Building Projects.

Mr. Perry

This matter deals with the most appalling case of educational neglect I have seen in Sligo city. There have been 20 years of promises and no relief in sight. In the past week significant attention has been given to the shortcomings and broken promises in primary and third level education. The case of the Ursuline College in Sligo demonstrates that our secondary schools are also under significant pressure.

Why has the proposed extension to the Ursuline College again been postponed? The Department has all the details of the substandard state of the classrooms, corridors and facilities and of the unaccountable delays by the Department of Education and Science in providing information on the planning stages. In 1983, Department inspectors considered the school unfit and unsafe for 500 students; in 2003, 650 students use the same facilities.

I cannot understand why the Ursuline College building project should be described as "very necessary" as opposed to "urgent". The Department's criteria under which a building project has been designated as urgent includes the fact that the need is such that failing to address it will impact heavily and negatively on the day-to-day functioning of the school. In effect, addressing the need is simply not discretionary.

The Ursuline College is educating 650 students in substandard accommodation, some of which was built before 1860. There are 439 home economics students with only one home economics kitchen. There are 732 students taking all the sciences with one ill-equipped science room. New syllabi in biology, chemistry, physics and junior certificate science create significant difficulties at curricular and health and safety levels. Technology facilities are appalling, and students and teachers work in conditions that represent a health and safety hazard. For 287 art students there is one art room. The PE facilities for 650 students comprise one small, unequipped hall and one hockey pitch. Classrooms and corridors, built for a school of 250, are overcrowded and unsafe.

Failure to address these curricular and physical needs is already impacting heavily and negatively on the day-to-day running of the school and is a cause of concern to management, staff, parents and students. I cannot understand why this extension has been postponed again.

I beg the Minister to bring the neglect of this famous school in Sligo to an immediate end. The staff and students deserve no less. It is a school with a fantastic history. One of the Minister's colleagues is a former pupil who visited the school quite recently. While her visit was most welcome, the Minister's approval for this extension is more important. I hope the Minister of State will not give me the routine reply but that he has good news instead. What I have stated is all factual with no fiction. We have had pre-election and post-election promises going back to 1983. It is regrettable the Department does not recognise the situation and approve the necessary funding. I call on the Minister to confirm that approval has been given to move to the next stage of planning to allow work to proceed.

Mr. Treacy

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline the Department of Education and Science's proposals regarding the proposed works at Ursuline College, Sligo. It is a famous school with famous past pupils, including a wonderful Government Minister. I know she has a special interest in it and I know the convent and the board of management can be assured of her personal interest in this matter.

Mr. Perry

I am delighted to hear that. Can the Minister of State now give me the news?

Mr. Treacy

The Department of Education and Science has received an application for additional accommodation from the school authorities. The planning section of the Department has agreed a long-term enrolment projection of 700 pupils with the school's management authority. Accordingly, the proposed development is being planned on this basis by agreement. The extension will provide additional accommodation of 1842 sq. m., including a number of general classrooms, a mathematics room, a science laboratory, two art and craft rooms, two social studies rooms, a home economics room, a music and drama area, a PE hall and ancillary accommodation.

In this regard a full design team has been appointed and architectural design of the project is progressing. The architectural design of post-primary education projects is based on nine stages.

Mr. Perry

At what stage is it now?

Mr. Treacy

The design and planning of the project is covered by stages 1 to 5, during which the project is developed from the assessment of site suitability, through detailed design, including the obtaining of planning permission, to the point where detailed bills of quantities are prepared. At stage 6, tenders are sought in line with public procurement procedures and subsequently a tender report is prepared and examined. Assuming that the outcome of the tender process is acceptable in terms of procurement procedures, providing value for money and that funds are available to meet construction costs, a construction contract is placed at that stage and the construction of the project begins.

Stages 7 to 9 cover post-contract cost control throughout the construction period, construction and practical completion of the building—

Mr. Perry

When will it happen?

Mr. Treacy

—including the hand-over of the building to the proposed occupiers and the completion of the cost analysis in the form of the final account, ensuring that cost control was maintained. The 2003 capital programme has been published and full details regarding individual projects are available on the Department's website at www.education.ie, which is a popular and much-visited website.

Mr. Perry

There is no good news on it.

Mr. Treacy

There is much good news on it. Even today we had more positive news. In regard to the project at the Ursuline College, I can confirm that the project is at an advanced stage of architectural planning stage 5, bills of quantities, and is included in section 6 of the 2003 schools building programme. I can refer the Deputy to the precise point on the website containing this information.

Mr. Perry

We want cash not websites.

Mr. Treacy

The stage 5 submission has been received in the Department and is currently being examined. However, in view of the scale of the programme as now published, and having regard to the level of financial commitments to be met from projects already in construction, the Department of Education and Science does not envisage that it will be in a position during this year to allow architectural planning for large-scale building projects to progress beyond their current authorised stage including this project.

Members of this House seem to forget that our population is now at its second highest level in history. By 2020 we will have the highest population in the history of this island. Consequent on that there is a demand at primary, secondary and third level to expand, improve and enlarge facilities. From the days when we allocated single-digit figures for gross expenditure on educational buildings, we have now gone to multiple-digit figures, which is putting significant pressure on the revenue and the taxpayers.

Mr. Perry

We have been waiting 20 years.

Mr. Treacy

I know the Deputy would not support further taxation on the people of Ireland and therefore we must live within the resources available. The timing of when this project can proceed to tender and construction is dependent on the funding allocation for 2004 and subsequent years. As a voluntary secondary school that is privately owned and managed, it is the responsibility of the board of management to address health and safety issues that arise at the school. This is underpinned in the Education Act.

I have noted what the Deputy has said. I again confirm the tremendous personal interest of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, who is committed to the project. The great regard and respect the convent has will ensure it gets due consideration as quickly as possible.

Mr. Perry

I thank the Minister of State. He is very good at his job.

Mr. Connolly

Cáirde Ghaelcholáiste Mhuineacháin submitted a valid application for an all-Irish second level school for Monaghan in September 2002, to be under the aegis of County Monaghan Vocational Education Committee which facilitated the proposal for a school which would open in September 2003. The recently published Monaghan development plan 2002 – 10 calls for a post-primary all-Irish college to be established under VEC administration by September 2003.

In September 2002 Monaghan Gaelcholáiste met all the criteria necessary to have the application for a Gaelcholáiste in the town considered. The school had a patron in the VEC, a location for its premises and, most importantly, the pupils. In September 2002 the application was made in good faith to the Department of Education and Science. After two years of dedicated work, committee members made a presumption that their application was being considered. That was until they received a letter, in April 2003, telling them that their application was not even being considered. They were told the commission for school accommodation was re-examining the criteria involved. It may transpire when the criteria have been re-examined that Monaghan Gaelcho láiste will meet them but it may happen that the criteria will make it impossible for Monaghan to achieve a Gaelcholáiste. I ask that it be given the chance that the 30 other Gaelcholáistí, nationally, were given when they started. One can imagine the outcry there would be if, having considered the application for a medical card, planning permission or a driving licence, an applicant was told that the criteria were being re-examined and he or she would have to wait until that had been done.

In September 2002, 43 pupils had expressed their intention of attending an Irish college in Monaghan if one opened in 2003. Because of the confusion that number has reduced to 17 but these are 17 very determined pupils and sets of parents and they are going to start a college irrespective of what decision the Government comes to. In the longer term, 133 prospective pupils have given their names and dates of birth to the Department and are interested in attending a Gaelcholáiste in Monaghan. Compare this with some of the Gaelcholáistí in Dublin. For example, when Coláiste Cillian started it had 14 pupils attending and now has 430. Coláiste Eoin had 17 pupils when it opened and now has 300. This, coupled with the fact that there are waiting lists for the Gaelscoileanna in Monaghan, shows that there is a very bright future for Monaghan Gaelcholáiste where we have a solid foundation. Approximately 5,000 pupils attend Gaelcholáistí nationally and I have no doubt that if others were provided, the number would quadruple.

The Irish language belongs to the whole nation. Hundreds of millions of euro have been directed at the Gaeltacht areas in the form of grants for speaking Irish, setting up businesses, building houses, teaching Irish to workers and keeping students. I do not begrudge the Gaeltacht its grants but believe we deserve a drop in the ocean to get the Gaelcholáiste started in Monaghan.

Gaelcholáistí, like Gaelscoileanna, attract very dedicated teachers who make a positive commitment to teach in an all-Irish school. The schools also tend to have very committed parents and, consequently, committed students. The parents who send their children to all-Irish speaking schools make a positve and conscious cultural choice. They do not associate Irish with poverty and backwardness.

I ask the Minister for Education and Science to reconsider his decision and have Monaghan Gaelcholáiste considered under the present criteria, to which we are entitled. We are, possibly, legally entitled to be considered under the criteria in place when the application was first made. There is a fear that we will not qualify under the new criteria. We should do all we can to encourage students to use Irish as much as possible. The Government's actions are being interpreted as discouraging Irish and applications for Gaelcholáistí. That is not good. The people of Monaghan are making a strong statement about the Irish language and I ask the Minister to grant the Gaelch oláiste temporary recognition of a period of three years to prove ourselves.

Mr. Treacy

Is cúis áthais dom seans a bheith agam freagra a thabhairt ar an ábhar an-thábhacht seo. Déanaim comhgairdeas, ar son an Rialtais, le muintir Mhuineacháin, as ucht an caomhnú agus an fhorbairt atá á dhéanamh acu ar an dteanga. Tá an t-Aire Oideachais agus Eolaíochta ag déanamh a dhícheall chun gach seans a thabhairt do dhaoine an Ghaeilge a labhairt go líofa. Níl aon ghá le coláiste Gaeilge chun go mbeadh aos óg na tíre líofa sa Ghaeilge nuair a chríochnaíonn siad a chuid oideachais sa bhunscoil, sa mheánscoil nó san ollscoil.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter since it affords me the opportunity, on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, of outlining the current position on the application received in the Department's planning and building unit from County Monaghan Vocational Education Committee for the establishment of a new second level Gaelcholáiste in Monaghan town. What is being proposed is a full all-Irish school under the aegis of the VEC.

It is the policy of the Department of Education and Science to facilitate and support the establishment of all-Irish facilities at primary and second level in areas outside the Gaeltacht where a demand for such facilities is demonstrated and there exists no alternative within a reasonable distance. The Department recognises that a demand for post-primary education through Irish is likely to arise in areas such as Monaghan where Gaelscoileanna have already been established.

There are, generally, two methods by which all-Irish educational provision at post-primary level can be met: through the establishment of either an independent all-Irish post-primary school or an all-Irish unit attached to an existing post-primary school. The unit, while part of an existing school, operates in a semi-autonomous manner and has a teacher in charge who holds a grade A post allowance. The unit is favoured by the Department in areas where demand for such a facility would be relatively small. However, it is possible that a unit could grow sufficiently over a number of years to warrant recognition as an independent school or Gaelcholáiste. The all-Irish units or schools are usually under the aegis of the relevant vocational education committee. In general, provisional recognition only is granted for the first three years of operation, during which time the school's or unit's progress is monitored by the Department. Permanent recognition is then considered, assuming that the school or unit has a viable future and is being conducted satisfactorily. The question of permanent accommodation for the school or unit is then considered at that stage.

In line with the Department's objects to improve and give greater clarity on policy related matters, the Minister for Education and Science has requested the commission on school accom modation to examine and review policy in relation to all-Irish provision at second level. The commission will submit its report and recommendations on criteria and procedures for establishing and maintaining provision through the medium of Irish in individual second level schools or clusters of schools. Its work in this area is ongoing and the Minister expects to receive its report and recommendations later this year. In the interim, the Department is not processing any applications for the establishment of new all-Irish facilities, of which a number have been received, including an application from County Monaghan VEC. Any extension of all-Irish provision at second level will be considered in the light of the commission's recommendations, which may contain revised criteria in this regard. The Department will give all the applications immediate consideration as soon as the commission's report and its recommendations on the matter of all-Irish provision at second level are received and fully considered in the Department.

Tá mé sásta go bhfuil an t-eolas sin ag an Teachta Ó Conghaile agus go mbeidh muintir Mhuineacháin sásta go bhfuil an t-Aire ag déanamh a dhícheall chun áiseanna a chur a fáil chun an teanga a chaomhnú ar fud na tíre, sa Ghaeltacht agus sa ghalltacht.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 21 May 2003.