Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Dec 2003

Vol. 174 No. 21

Adjournment Matters. - Schools Building Projects.

Mr. McHugh

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, to the House. It is appropriate that he will respond to my comments, as he pays attention to matters in County Donegal as part of his national brief. I would like to discuss the difficulties being experienced by St. Mura's national school in Buncrana and Monreagh national school in Carrigans.

St. Mura's national school in Buncrana has been waiting for funds to be allocated so that it can be refurbished. There are great plans to redevelop the school. An extension to the school is planned because there is a lack of space there at present. Its principal has to conduct her office work in a classroom. The old-style two-room school in Buncrana was built in 1930. The school authorities are waiting for an announcement on when the building programme will be enacted. There is some confusion in this regard, as it has been suggested that construction will commence in 2004. I ask the Minister of State to commit to a date in his response. The parents of the pupils at St. Mura's are being punished for keeping the school up to scratch on a voluntary basis. The school should not be punished because it does not fall into the grant assistance category for developing schools. It should be kept on the list.

The case of Monreagh national school in Carrigans is somewhat different. It was built in 1853 and celebrated its 150th anniversary last weekend. The school authorities in Carrigans have asked for a new building. They would like the Government to commit to when the land acquisition deal will be signed. The board of management is embarrassed because it has engaged in fund-raising, in which parents have been involved. Those associated with the school want to know why the construction has not started, when it will start and if it will start. The board of management is seeking a commitment in this regard and I hope the Minister of State can provide it.

I welcome the increase of €30 million for primary and secondary schools in the budget. The small schools to which I refer are the 19 pupil school in Monreagh and the 40 pupil St. Mura's primary school in Buncrana, which are a microcosm of the education system. In that context, one must consider that €7.5 million is required to build one national school in Ennis, County Clare. I have serious reservations about where this money will come from for an overall national strategy. The boards of management of these schools do not want any more false promises or commitments. The board of Monreagh national school wants a start date for land acquisition so that the school building programme can proceed and the board of St. Mura's seeks a commitment as to when it can proceed with refurbishment.

Mr. Gallagher

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I am glad to have the opportunity of outlining to the House the Department of Education and Science's position in regard to the provision of improved accommodation of St. Mura's, Buncrana, and Monreagh national school in Carrigans.

St. Mura's national school has applied for the provision of additional upgrading of existing mechanical and electrical services and refurbishment of the existing school building. The Department has already accepted that there is a need to provide additional accommodation for students of St. Mura's national school in Buncrana and I am pleased to inform the Senator that a proposed building project for the school is at stage 4-5 of architectural planning. The Senator will appreciate the importance of this stage which involves pre-tender documents. It is intended to publish details of the 2004 school building programme by early January at the latest. The programme will clarify what progress is planned for projects, such as St. Mura's national school during 2004.

In regard to Monreagh national school, the Department is examining the school application for improved accommodation. The Senator will appreciate that before committing major capital funding to any project, the Department must be satisfied, having regard to all relevant factors including enrolment and demographic trends, that Monreagh national school has a viable future, thereby ensuring value for money. When these issues have been fully investigated by the Department of Education and Science, a decision will issue to the school's management authority.

I will at the first available opportunity relate the Senator's strong views and concerns to the Minister for Education and Science. The Senator is part of a team, together with his Oireachtas colleagues in the north west, which is impressing upon the Minister the necessity to progress these applications. I am familiar with the schools and hope it will not be long until the 2004 programme is published and we can see if there is positive news for them.