I commend Senator Henry and fully support the case she made about the seriousness of the lack of legislation in this area.
Thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for allowing me raise the urgent necessity for two extra classrooms and ancillary rooms at St. Margaret's national school in Curracloe, County Wexford. This is the second or third time I have raised this matter on the Adjournment in the past two or three years. I commend the board of management on its persistence and on the mannerly way it has proceeded. I hope the reason its case is not being treated with the urgency demanded by the facts and figures is not the fact that it has taken the normal route of contacting the Department and following the laid down procedures. I sometimes feel that the greater nuisance people make of themselves, the quicker their file gets to the top of the pile. I would like an assurance this is not the case with St. Margaret's national school in Curracloe.
The Minister for Education and Science has sanctioned one additional classroom and two ancillary rooms for this school. The board of management has highlighted the need for two additional classrooms due to the ever increasing pupil attendance. On 30 September 1999 – three months ago – there were 124 pupils on the school's roll. One further pupil has been added since then. The school is staffed by a principal and three assistant teachers – four teachers for 125 pupils. The number of pupils required to retain a principal and three teachers is 85 and this school has 125 pupils. One does not need to be very numerate to work out that this school has an extra 40 pupils, yet it was refused a fourth assistant for the 1999-2000 school year. Perhaps the Minister could check the situation in that regard. It appears that ordinary schools such as St. Margaret's in Curracloe are becoming the new disadvantaged schools and that its pupils are not being treated fairly by the Department as all class sizes are breaking the maximum size of 30 pupils by a long shot. It is 40 pupils over.
The campaign for an additional teacher has been ongoing for a number of years. The school has been patient with the Department but that patience has now turned to frustration because of the lengthy delay in processing its request. That undue delay puts unnecessary and unfair pressures on staff and pupils, given the overcrowding and the huge class sizes. The school has been led to believe that the Department will make a decision this month on whether to approve the second urgently required classroom. Perhaps the Minister of State will have good news for me on that this evening.
Notwithstanding the fact that St. Margaret's is based in a rural community seven or eight miles from Wexford town, there has been great local commitment to ensure the accommodation is urgently provided and that the full local contribution for this project is raised through tireless and continual fund-raising efforts by all concerned in the area. The school's case cannot be plainer than that. It requires two classrooms and two ancillary rooms. It has 40 pupils more than the number required for the four teachers it now has, yet it was refused an extra teacher this year. It is two classrooms short and the people concerned feel they are among the new disadvantaged. The school is not technically classified as disadvantaged because of its location, but this is a suburb of Wexford which is a growing town. Several sections of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development have recently been relocated there. The vehicle registration office is located in Rosslare. This is a satellite area of Wexford town where there has been a lot of new development and new houses. The numbers in this school testify to what I say.
I urge the Minister of State to ensure that a second classroom is sanctioned and that building work commences immediately because this school, which is a teacher and two classrooms short, is not suitable for another school year commencing next September. He and the Minister, who appears to have a great commitment to education, will agree that these are not suitable circumstances for teaching children at primary school.
Mr. Fahey: I apologise for the absence of the Minister. I thank the Senator for giving me this opportunity to outline to the House the current position regarding St. Margaret's national school, Curracloe, County Wexford.
First I would like to provide some background information. The school has a staffing level of principal, three assistants and one remedial teacher. This school's enrolment was 124 on 30 September 1999. The existing building contains three permanent classrooms, a general purpose room, staff room, library/medical room and a small kitchen and stores.
Towards the end of last year my Department authorised the initiation of architectural planning for the provision of an additional classroom at the school. However, following consultation with the school authorities the proposed brief was subsequently revised to include two multi-purpose rooms in addition to the extra classroom. My Department also instructed the board of management to make provision in the plans for a second additional classroom. The board of management was also authorised to appoint a design team for the project.
Due to the changes in the pupil teacher ratio introduced in 1999 this school is likely to gain a fourth assistant in September 2000. In the light of these changes, the long-term accommodation needs of the school are being reconsidered, taking account of projected enrolments and demographic changes in the area. My Department will be in contact with the school authorities as soon as this examination has been completed. At that point the overall brief for this project can be finalised.
The Senator will be aware that the Minister for Finance has allocated a further major increase in funding for primary school building projects, which next year will be almost 200 per cent higher than the figure allocated in the 1997 budget. This will enable my Department to proceed with many badly needed projects in Wexford and throughout the country.
