asked the Minister for Education if he will state in relation to the Convent of Mercy, Rosscarbery, County Cork whether he will (a) approve in principle grant aid to accommodate a projected enrolment of 425 pupils bearing in mind the present accommodation problems in catering for 355 pupils and the projections for the future; (b) sanction the appointment of a remedial teacher: (c) arrange for the payment of grants in connection with the provision of metalwork facilities bearing in mind that there is no vocational school in Rosscarbery; and (d) re-imburse the sum of £8,000 paid by the school to part-time teachers or alternatively sanction the reduction of the present pupil-teacher ratio of 19:1.

(a) I consider that the 350 places approved for this school is adequate having regard to past enrolment trends and the numbers expected to be leaving primary schools in the area for the foreseeable future.

(b) In 1979-80 and 1980-81 the creation of 200 additional posts was authorised in second level schools over and above the normal allocation of teachers to cater specifically for remedial education.

These posts were allocated in the areas of greatest need from among the applicant schools. It was not possible to include Rosscarbery Convent School in the allocation.

(c) The position is that this school already has grant-aided facilities for woodwork. Grant-aid for metalwork facilities in this school would not be justified on the basis of the level of utilisation of such facilities which could be achieved.

(d) The pupil-teacher ratio of 19:1 in the case of secondary schools is of general application and may not be departed from in the case of individual schools. Payment of part-time teachers, where such are employed may be made from the funds available from the capitation grant and the grant in lieu of tuition fees.

Could I question the Minister's figures? Has he totally rejected the projected enrolment of almost 400 in the years ahead?

Yes. We consider 350 places as sufficient.

I would ask the Minister to look again at his own projections, which I fear are based on financial considerations rather than on the actual facts. Will the Minister accept that this school is an exceptional, unique school in an area where there is no vocational school? In that situation it cannot be classified with the ordinary secondary school.

I accept that this is a splendid school.

Would the Minister accept the point that—

I had a deputation from this school.

—in the light of there being no vocational school in the area, this school fulfils a function greater than the ordinary secondary school? It takes in people of all types who would need special consideration from the remedial point of view; it takes in people who may not have an academic bent and therefore it needs support from the point of view of metalwork and woodwork. Would the Minister accept that it is a special case and that special consideration should be given to it? By merely classifying it with the ordinary secondary school it is not getting a fair deal, nor are the parents and, in particular, nor are the children of the area.

I met a deputation from this school and know all about the school. It is a splendid school. As the Deputy says, it is true that it is a special case. Cognisance is taken of this fact in the provision of the woodwork teachers for that school. That is an unusual feature for secondary schools, as the Deputy knows. Unfortunately, on the basis of a study of needs, we were not able to give a remedial teacher, as yet, to that school.

A final supplementary, please.

On the basis that all the people in the Rosscarbery area are not going to be hewers of wood would the Minister accept the need for support for the metalwork facilities? Secondly, will the Minister now promise to give priority to the appointment of a remedial teacher? He has accepted that this is a special case and would he do those two things for this school at this stage?

First of all, I resent — although I know that the Deputy was being facetious — calling people who study woodwork and building construction hewers of wood in any kind of sense except the facetious sense. The question of the metalwork teacher has been gone into, as the Deputy knows. I have been in correspondence with him and with Deputy Walsh and with the principal of the school about it already. We cannot, as of now, sanction a metalwork teacher for the school. It is my ambition to increase the intake to the training college for metalwork teachers, which will have a problem due to an extension of the course somewhat later on, so that every post-primary school eventually will be able to have metalwork and engineering workshop theory and practice, as it is called, with senior level teachers and building construction and woodwork teachers.