Senator Jackman has been given permission to raise on the Adjournment the matter of the Kilfinane Centre in County Limerick.
Adjournment Matter. - County Limerick Outdoor Education Centre.
I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, for waiting for such a long time. I wonder if he has ever had to wait in this House until 12.40 a.m. for a motion on the Adjournment. I think he realises it was because of the previous motion for which a half an hour had to be found at some time in the sitting. I thank him very much for his patience.
I raise this matter because I am asking the Minister to confer official sanction or and give formal approval to Kilfinane education centre in County Limerick. Both he and Minister O'Rourke visited the centre and I know they have been very enthusiastic in their expression of support for it. I am requesting formal approval of the centre. I ask the Minister if it would now merit a director to run it.
It has been in operation as a successful outdoor education centre since 1982. It has acquired a tremendous reputation since its development by the County Limerick VEC, of which I am a member. The CEO at that time instead of just looking at what might have become a derelict site, as was the case in many parts of the county where many of these buildings were allowed to fall into dereliction, had the foresight to develop it. It is now a centre of integrated development and is an infrastructural gem in an underdeveloped, though beautifully scenic region. It is on the borderland of County Limerick and Cork.
It started small but it has developed as a language centre with European students visiting regularly which obviously shows that the centre anticipated 1992 a long time before 1992 became a buzz word. There are many international students, German, French, etc. coming there on an annual basis. That is extraordinary in a country where up to now the facilities for educational development and language development were always in urban areas. That is one innovative aspect which preceded the demand for second languages for students.
It provides a second chance education in a rural area. Again, second chance education is usually associated with large urban areas, towns, cities, etc. It also provides adult literacy classes, which is very important in rural areas, and a full range of services and facilities which have been expanded and developed over the years. There are various courses — orienteering, hill walking, rock climbing, sailing, camping, canoeing, English and a foreign language, cultural activities, boat sailing, bowling, caving, forest walks, nature trails, gym and green activities and field studies. It has obviously a very comprehensive range of activities.
The centre is very well appointed with excellent facilities and a high standard of service. I had occasion over a period of two years to go there regularly, once every three weeks, for in-service in relation to development education. It shows the excellence of the service that teachers from the four corners of the country actually converged on Kilfinane rather than going to a hotel because of the privacy and the facilities it afforded us. Its remoteness in a scenic area meant we could apply our minds to curriculum development. It is interesting that it is seen as a haven where you can escape from disturbances and distractions and can apply yourself to the task in hand.
Kilfinane is a town that has seen better days. It had fine shops which, unfortunately, have fallen into disrepair. It is interesting that it is an area of fairly rich farmland but this centre has now brought an infusion of life to a sleepy town and it has contributed extraordinarily well to the development of a local rural tourism co-operative. Within the context of the mid-western plan for tourist development Ballyhoura is one of the key areas for development and has moved very quickly in relation to agri-tourism and associated services. Kilfinane is extremely busy and popular and when I was teaching it was necessary to book 12 months in advance if you were going for a weekend of outdoor activities. I taught in an inner city school but there was a 12 months waiting list even though we were in County Limerick. One could imagine the length of time those outside the county had to wait.
Nowadays we are far more aware of the importance of outdoor education in the curriculum which shows that Kilfinane was ahead of its time. Their facilities lend themselves very much towards this area. There are unusual features in the centre which you do not find in other education centres. For instance, there is an arboretum and a herbarium. There are facilities for croquet, a sporting activity associated with Victorian days but it has made a come back in Kilfinane. Likewise there are more modern facilities such as a gymnasium, and there are activities like archery, gymnastics, squash and so on. There are formal grounds which facilitate bowling as well as croquet and golf.
The accommodation is very satisfactory and in the vicinity there are guest-houses and Irish cottage type holiday houses. In other words, it has led to the development of the area. This is extraordinary for an education centre. As a member of County Limerick VEC I am aware of the potential of Kilfinane, as are the many people who use it. The area in which it is located is considered to be remote even though it is only 26 miles south-east of Limerick. It is not quite on a national route. It could be developed still further in conjunction with another scenic and archaeologically important spot, Loch Gur, and with Slievefelim and would be competition for Bunratty.
What I am really looking for is a commitment from the Minister that formal approval will be given to Kilfinane.
I thank Senator Jackman for the positive contribution she has made to this debate on the development of Kilfinane Outdoor Education Centre.
In 1981 a working group recommended the establishment of outdoor pursuit centres and education centres throughout the country. Unfortunately, right up to the time I took office in 1987 the previous Government decided that it would not be possible to give financial support to the eight outdoor pursuit centres which had been established by my Department. Consequently when I took over in the Department of Education I found that seven of the centres had closed and the final one in Cappanalea in County Kerry was due to close. I looked at the potential of those centres both from the point of view of the outdoor education facilities they provided for young people and their tourism potential. I decided that I should attempt to convince the Government that finance should be made available for the re-establishment of those centres, for their proper staffing and indeed for their development.
As a result of a proposal that I made to Government, funding of £400,000 was made available in 1988 for staffing. This resulted in the centres at Achill, the Burren, Birr, Cappanalea, County Kerry, Gartan in Donegal, Kinsale, Petersburg in Galway and Shielbeggan in Wexford being identified as the eight recognised outdoor pursuit centres in the country. One of the conditions I placed on all those centres was that they should become active in the private sector market with a view to generating substantial funds towards their further development. I am pleased to say that all centres took on the challenge of not alone providing outdoor education for the children in their catchment areas but in providing a very important part of the tourist infrastructure of their region, and consequently generated quite a significant amount of income.
Kilfinane Outdoor Education Centre located in the Ballyhoura countryside of south-east Limerick, as the Senator said, was not one of those which was chosen in the original eight. It operates on an all year round basis and provides a range of facilities for hill walking, rock climbing, canoeing, orienteering, etc. While the centre specialises primarily in outdoor education, it has also been centrally involved in developing the local community tourism co-operative. County Limerick VEC have made continuous representations to the Department to have Kilfinane centre added to the network of centres already in receipt of funds from the proceeds of the national lottery.
I agree with the Senator that when I visited the Kilfinane centre following numerous requests from local Deputies Gerard Collins and Michael Noonan and the CEO of the VEC, Seán Burke, some months ago, I was very impressed not only by the developments which had taken place in the centre but also by the initiatives which were taken by the community in that part of south-east Limerick in their Ballyhoura Fáilte development. I must say that not alone was I impressed by the work that is being done there by the local community, but I feel that this is a pointer to the rest of the country on the way development in rural tourism should take place.
Following my visit I undertook to examine further the proposal from Limerick VEC that we should consider Kilfinane as a centre of outdoor education. I was glad to announce a couple of months ago that I had decided to recognise Kilfinane as an outdoor education centre and that we would provide funds from our Department towards the staffing of the centre. Recognition of the centre is dependent on the Department of Finance agreeing to my proposal to include Kilfinane in the network of outdoor education centres currently in receipt of funding. I have recently sought the approval of the Department of Finance for the inclusion of the centre and at present I await their approval for its inclusion.
I thank the Minister and hope he is successful in his funding arrangements. We look forward to the formal opening, with cash in hand.
The Seanad adjourned at 12.55 a.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 11 July 1990.