I am grateful to the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise on the Adjournment the litany of worrying problems that have beset an important school in my own constituency, one of the largest rural schools in my county, if not in the country, namely Kilmore Central School.
When the central heating system broke down in this school last Thursday, that was just the latest in a long litany of disasters that have created great difficulty for teachers, pupils and parents. Some 18 months ago, the boiler in the school was replaced, having been comprehensively checked out by representatives of the Department of Education and Science. The assessment at that time was that the central heating pipes were rotten and needed to be replaced. However, only the boiler was replaced and, as predicted 18 months ago, the pipes burst this week.
The school has now been forced to close, and it is predicted that it will take about ten days to carry out the comprehensive job that needs to be done to replace the central heating system and all the pipes. The school management has no option but to close the school for this period. That is a scandal, considering the rights of parents and the rights of the school pupils to be properly educated, and also considering the predictability of this emergency.
In February 2000 the then Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Michael Woods, called to the school and said that its deficiencies, all of which were pointed out to him, would be rectified immediately. In May 2000, shortly before the general election, the school was formally notified that all required remedial works would be carried out before the end of the year 2000. What happened in 2001 was that asbestos panels were removed from part of the school and replaced with plywood panels. The school was given a firm assurance at that time that those temporary plywood fixtures would be replaced with permanent fixtures within six weeks. That was in 2001. Needless to say, that was the last the school heard of them and the last the school heard from the Department. Those plywood temporary repairs are still in place and are now rotten.
The windows were to be replaced at the same time. No action was taken. The school's suspended ceiling, put up in 1972, is falling down. Lumps are falling on the school floors, leaving holes overhead. In other areas the ceiling is bulging, and in one area of the general purposes room the ceiling is being held up by a pole strategically placed under one particular dangerous bulge.
All of this constitutes a shameful litany of neglect and inaction. False promises were given which now demand an immediate and comprehensive response from the Department of Education and Science. What is required tonight is that the Minister of State should give this House, and more importantly the children and parents of Kilmore School, firm assurances of immediate action to put right all the wrongs with this defective building.
