I thank the Cathaoirleach for permitting me to raise this matter on the Adjournment and I apologise to the Minister for bringing him here in such a busy week.
It may seem a trivial matter to many Senators and to many people who do not reside in west Tallaght but it is an extremely important matter. While we have had over the years many difficulties with regard to getting a school, particularly in the fast developing areas of County Dublin, this is the greatest saga there has been. It is unfortunate because of the area we are dealing with and I will deal briefly with that first.
We are dealing with an area that was built over the past 12 years by Dublin Corporation to transplant hundreds of families from the centre city and outside the central city area. The corporation took them out of the environment to which they were accustomed all their lives and put them out in west Tallaght. To them it was quite a journey. To have to set up a new home in this fast developing area was a major task for many of the families. The houses were allocated on a points system which meant they had to have at least two, and some of them three and four children. It is an area where there is a very large child population, probably the highest child population in any part of the country.
It is a disadvantaged area in many ways. More than 70 per cent of the heads of households are unemployed. They are in an environment they are not used to. They happened to move into the area just as the recession came and there was no further development.
I believe the Department were quite prepared to have the school built there long before this year but when the recession came and there was a slowing down of development in the area I suppose it was natural for them to have another look at the situation. Because the numbers were not likely to rise as rapidly as was anticipated they cut back on the provision of this school. It was unfortunate for the few hundred families living in that area that it should have happened just like that.
I do not want to use the term "political football" but it would appear to many that the provision of this school on this particular site has been a political football. It was to be provided one year, then it was not being provided, then it was promised by another party or another Government and then the proposal was scrapped again. On 14 June, 1989 in the run-up to the election, both the Fine Gael Party and the Minister of the day gave an undertaking within a week of each other. Fine Gael were first and then the Minister gave an undertaking that the school would be provided by September of this year. This was after many public meetings and much lobbying of public representatives by the parents' committee, a body that was extremely active but it was necessary. The hype at the moment is on the health services but after health, and indeed in many instances before health, education is considered the highest priority with many families who do not have a health problem.
It was suggested by the Department at one stage that the children of this area could be catered for in three or four other schools in the general Tallaght area. This is something that should not be allowed to happen in a developing area. These people should be helped in every way to become a community. We are dealing with people who did not know the person who is now their next-door neighbour until they arrived in this area a few years ago. We should be encouraging them to knit into a community but instead of that we were suggesting scattering them to the four winds. I believe the best way to bring any community closer together is to give them adequate educational facilities because it is through the children that the parents meet.
Following on the undertaking by the Minister on 14 June 1989, there were statements on 21 August by the Minister, on 24 October, again by the Minister, by the Minister of State, Deputy Harney on 5 January and by Deputy Flood on 16 January, 1990. The latest statement was given by the Minister to Deputy Alan Dukes only last week where she said that agreement has been reached with the liquidator. That is known for well over two years now. She said agreement has been reached with the liquidator and the legal arrangements for the purchase are currently being processed. Since then we have been told those documents have been mislaid and there has been some hold up. Is there a jinx on the provision of a school for these people in such a disadvantaged area? The Minister went on to say that the ongoing legal processing of these legal documents will not in any way constrain the arrangements for the construction of the new school on the site for which tenders are being sought shortly. That statement was only made last week.
In my experience of school building, it is an exceptional builder who will have a school on that site next September. At the best, work will start in April. I know how long it takes the Department to advertise for tenders, to receive tenders and then decide on who is the successful tenderer. The suggestion is coming from some quarter in the Department that there will be a clause in the contract to ensure that the builder continues working through the summer and through the summer holiday period. That is something new to me but if that can be done I welcome it. I welcome any measure to provide the school on the site at Jobstown in September next but I do not know what builder is prepared to give such an undertaking. I hope that will not be a further reason for delaying the provision of the school because we are at crisis point.
The school at the moment is operating in the Brookfield School, another school providing for children from similar families. In the coming year that school will have 600 pupils. Jobstown school, the school for which we are seeking the building on the Jobstown site, is operating in the same building with 300 children. If they do not have their school in September they will have almost 400 children, that is 1,000 children in two schools operating under the one roof. I do not think that can be tolerated by any Government, particularly in an area that is trying to settle into a community as is west Tallaght.
I would appeal to the Minister of State to move with all speed and perhaps improve on his Minister's reply to Deputy Alan Dukes. I am fairly used to Civil Service language but the Minister said the ongoing legal processing will not in any way constrain the arrangements for construction. I do not like the word "arrangements" because the Minister can come back next June, July of August and say she never said it would be built by September, she only said the legal processing of the purchase of the site would not constrain the arrangements for construction. That is not what the people of west Tallaght are looking for — arrangements for construction.
I would like the Minister to give us in this House an undertaking this evening that that school will be built whether the site has been procured or not. It is not unusual to move in and to build on a site and sort out the legal documents afterwards. We have done it on the VEC in County Dublin. I know of one school that was built for many years before the Department were the legal owners of the site. All the legal documents did not go through until last year, even though the school has been operating for eight or ten years.
The parents of this area are particularly worried that there is no room here now for any further error, losing of documents or delay. If a builder refuses to work during the August holiday period, does it mean the school will not be ready for September? I do not think we can tolerate these two schools operating under the one roof after next September. Many of the parents are reluctant to enrol their children for September in the Jobstown school because of the uncertainty of the situation. If there is any error, any delay, a strike, a scarcity of timber or a scarcity of cement what happens? There are five months for the construction and equipping of that school for the area. I appeal to the Minister to give this matter immediate attention.
