Castlegregory school facilities
Deputy John Brassil says Castlegregory national school urgently needs a general purpose room and that its application was refused despite strong local support. The Minister asks for further details and says the proposal will be looked at by officials.
The programme for Government gives a commitment to enhance our primary school facilities. I am glad the Minister for Education and Skills is present. Last night, I attended a meeting in Castlegregory national school, roll number 11746Q. It is a five-teacher school with 134 pupils and no general purpose room. It applied for one last year and sent an application on 28 March. On 5 April, less than a week later, a point-blank refusal came down. The school made a very convincing case to the public representatives present at the meeting last night, which was attended by 80 people. Will the Minister at least commit to an assessment of needs on the school to establish the need for a very worthy and needed general purpose room?
Comment on this
I would like further details of the school situation. It is important to point out that there is a scale of prioritisation with the need for new schools, extra classrooms and special education provision. There is a big budgetary demand but I am happy to have my officials look at the application.