I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter for discussion on the Adjournment. In the early 1970s there were three second level schools in Elphin: the Convent of Mercy, the vocational school and the grammar school. Elphin was earmarked for a community school. However, the Sisters of Mercy withdrew from the second level sector. There was talk of amalgamation between the grammar school and the vocational school and subsequently, in the mid-1970s, a system of common enrolment was put in place. There were initially two management systems and the then Department of Education funded the rental of the grammar school at an exorbitant rent. Today, there is a single management system, combined with enthusiastic young staff, and there is increased parental confidence and better morale within the school. Parents are also satisfied with the range of subjects currently on offer. The school offers transition year and the leaving certificate vocational programme as well as a range of extra-curricular activities including public speaking, debating, drama and trampolining.
The difficulty is that there is a split campus. The two campuses are half a mile apart. The school has a system in place under which subjects are timetabled so that pupils' movements between the buildings only occur at lunchtime, but this is still not satisfactory. The problems resulting from the split campus include arranging supervision, loss of time moving between schools, safety concerns, discomfort to pupils on wet days, the cost of rent and maintenance and the poor state of repair of the rented building, the Bishop Hudson grammar school. There seems to be a blatant lack of interest within the Department of Education and Science in the vocational school in Elphin, which has received no funding from the Department since 1942. It was set up initially as a junior cycle school and was never funded to teach leaving certificate subjects, as it does at present.
The social implications of the loss of pupils from the area and the demise of the community that would result if the school is not developed, are serious. Losing the school would be critical for the town's viability. The Department, as we know, has a one-school-per-town policy. The proposal put before the Department ties in with that. In addition, the Department could save money over the long term if the rent it is paying at the moment were diverted into a capital project. Parents are extremely disappointed with the lack of progress that has been made in locating Elphin community college on one single campus.
In 1999, Roscommon VEC applied to the Department for the provision of additional accommodation at Elphin community college. The schedule of accommodation works was prepared on the basis of a long-term projection enrolment of 175 pupils. The proposed extension would provide 952 sq. m. of additional accommodation consisting of specialist rooms, library, store, general store, PE hall, kitchenette, staff accommodation, toilets and circulation social areas.
The design team was appointed in August 2000. In February 2002, the VEC was requested to prepare and submit a stage three plan which was submitted in June 2002. In the 2003 building programme, Elphin community college came under section 7, which meant that the project would not proceed further. The only exception to this general principle is a post- primary school resulting from an agreed rationalisation that can proceed in planning to the pre-tendering stage. Elphin community college fits into this criteria, as stated by the Department, and yet has been long-fingered.
On February 7 2003, the Minister for Education and Science stated to me in correspondence that the extension project to Elphin community college will be considered for the 2004 building programme, as was hoped in Elphin. However, in the 2004 allocations, Elphin community college was still at an architectural planning stage. In section 9 of the programme, which refers to the pre-planning permission stage, the community college is at band three of the post-primary categories. A band three assignation means a project is less urgent. The consequences of not supplying what is necessary are less drastic and, critically, it may be impossible to implement alternative solutions to satisfy the needs presenting. In short, it is less critical and the fulfilment of the need is more a medium-term target than short-term one.
Will the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy Brian Lenihan, explain how it could not be a short-term target? The parents want to know, once and for all whether the Department will approve this project in principle and what the timescale involved will be.