Conor D McGuinness: Scaled-back extension fails Gaelscoil

Go raibh míle maith agat, Cathaoirleach, gu naoibh ag, agus thamac na mhcaint anocht, maith ag léir, Scóil Garibháin, in áin Garibháin, ag un daoibh fortlaoraige, agus an saige, an scéal an adai a tháog an scóil sá, i déimh síne a chur leis a bhfuirgeannaibh. I raise, Minister, the situation of Scóil Garibháin in Dungarvan and County Waterford, and the long-running saige that it, the school community, the children, the teaching staff, the management, and indeed the board and parents, have been dealing with over several years. The Department of Education has recently communicated a decision to the school to scale back a long-approved nine-room extension. This decision has caused serious concern in the school community because it cuts across what was previously approved, previously communicated, what was planned for, and what the school has been working towards, in good faith, over a number of years. In November 2024, after many years of delay, after a lot of miscommunication, after a lot of shifting goalposts, the Department issued a formal offer for a nine-room extension made up of four mainstream classrooms, two special education classrooms, and three special education tuition rooms. That offer was made in response to an already recognised accommodation crisis in the school. Today the school has 13 classes, but only nine permanent classrooms, meaning the school cannot operate within its own physical capacity. As a result, children are being taught across a fragmented mix of off-site accommodation, prefab buildings, and repurposed spaces that were never designed for long-term uses. One of the classes is based off-site in a nearby secondary school, and that has been the case for three years, requiring daily movement away from the school campus and losing normal teaching continuity, as well as the loss of community that the children that are educated off-site might otherwise enjoy. Another class has been located in the challah for five years, and that challah was built entirely funded through fundraising by the parents and school community, but it has, for almost all that five years, been served as a classroom. So that's removed any kind of proper PE and assembly space from the school. The school yard is also taken up with two prefabs, which means that there is no outdoor paved area for play on those days that it's not lashing rain. So kids are effectively kept in their classrooms, some of them in the case of the prefabs that are damp, dealing with deteriorating conditions and structural concerns. So the school that was originally built for 100 pupils now has 320, and demand is increasing. I should mention this is a Gaelscull in Dungarvan. Dungarvan is a Gaeltacht service town, recognised as such by government for a number of years now. Significant investment is made by government in promoting the use of the Irish language as a living community language in the town of Dungarvan. This is the sole Gaelscull, and it is intrinsically important to that project, to the school community, to the children that are educated there, and to the promotion of Irish in West Waterford. There is no other Gaelscull, there is no other option, but demand increases. There is a níonra on site that is a feeder níonra for the school. There are waiting lists involved. So not only is this making teaching very difficult, not only is it impacting the learning experience of the children attending the school, but it's also preventing parents from accessing id achas trí choileann d'ábbáiste, to get an education through the Irish language for their children. Next to the school is a 155-home, much-needed in Dungarvan, believe me, housing development that's coming on stream in the next year, year and a half. Demand is only going to increase. In the catchment area, there are two English-speaking, English-language schools that are both landlocked and that don't have room for expansion. I should also mention that the Department of Education funded Waterford City and County Council, back when I was a councillor, to buy a site to build an extension for this school. So the site is there, paid for with public funds. The approval was granted, but now we have this shifting of the goalposts, and to say that the school community feel utterly dejected and utterly let down would be a massive understatement. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you, Doctor. I'm taking this on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegard Nocton. I'd like to outline to the Dáil the current position in relation to investments in school infrastructure in County Waterford. Waterford County is broken down mainly into five school planning areas, and an analysis of the primary school population in Waterford indicates that primary school enrolments will reduce in all areas over the next five years, except for one school planning area ring, which may see a small increase in enrolments. Post-primary enrolments in all areas are projected to remain steady and peak in the next few years. There are currently four school projects in County Waterford under construction. These projects are in addition to 150 million in capital funding for County Waterford schools since 2020. During that period, over 30 schools in County Waterford were upgraded either through the provision of new school building, a large-scale extension, or provision of modular accommodation. In addition, approximately 120 small-scale improvement works were undertaken across the county schools to address maintenance needs and enhance energy efficiency. Furthermore, since 2020, a total of 68 special classes have been sanctioned in County Waterford, of which 17 have been sanctioned for September 2026. As the Deputy will be aware, the Department published a £7.5 billion NDP sectorial investment plan for the education and youth sectors for the period 2026 to 2030 earlier this year. Of the total of £7.5 billion investment, it is envisaged that approximately £5 billion will be used for project rollout to support the delivery and modernisation of school buildings across the large scale, additional accommodation, modular and annual September accommodation needs programme. The Department continues to build on the progress made over recent years with the rollout of projects on a prioritised basis to meet the most urgent needs in terms of provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing facilities. In this regard, the Department also published a list of 105 school building projects in the first tranche to proceed to construction or tender over 2026 to 2027. This list included two projects in County Waterford, one of which is now in construction and the second project has moved to tender stage. As part of the planning ahead for the next tranche of projects to progress to tender, a Department-led prioritisation process will continue over the course of 2026 and 2027. This will include engagement with key stakeholders, including meetings of patrons this month. The Department-led energy and condition survey of the school estate will be finalised later in 2026, will provide an additional evidence base for assessing priorities. A next tranche of projects to proceed to tender is expected to be announced in 2027. Investment under the plan also involves the delivery of the first tranche of 297 projects under the Climate Action Summer Work Scheme. This includes seven projects in County Waterford approved to undergo works this summer. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, but it's not very useful for me or the people involved with the school. Thanks Minister for the response and I do appreciate you being here to read the response. But similar to other speakers tonight, I want to just place on the record I would much prefer if one of the two Ministers in the Department of Education was here. They're not. I think that in itself tells us something. I think we could have a more engaging and robust conversation. That is no criticism of you, Minister. You're here, to be fair, doing your job. But what we need here is real, meaningful education with the school. I had School Principal and Deputy Principal and Chairperson of the Board of Management in Leinster House this evening for some meetings. I understand they're going to meet with the Minister tomorrow, but it can't be just a meeting to effectively go through what you've said here. I hope that the Minister has more to say to the school because this is holding back the ability of children to get an education, for educators to do their jobs, to do it safely, for parents and children to vindicate their right to have an education through the medium of Irish. No matter what way you cut it, this is an infringement on basic rights for children. For children with special educational needs attending this excellent school to be able to get the educational interventions that they need and deserve in adequate and appropriate places. For children who are learning to be able to, during their break times, actually move around, not be stuck in a classroom, in some cases stuck in a prefab classroom, without access to a challah, without access to a close to go outside and play. So what we need to hear from the Minister tomorrow is a can-do attitude. It isn't a collection or a litany of what has been achieved, what might be achieved and what's aspirational, but nuts and bolts how we're going to remedy this situation. And if it's to pointing to, well that was a miscommunication and an error on our part, we're going to solve it. That's fine, we'll take that all day long. But what we do need is an approach that says, right, we're going to fix this. This is how we're going to do it. And that'll work with the school. They're reasonable people, but they have been years trying to get this extension. Thank you. Thank you, Arthur. The department has a strong track record of delivering the school, the government school building programme with over 6.9 billion invested since 2020. This delivered over 1,400 completed school building projects along with over 4,000 small-scale improvement works to meet priority maintenance needs and advance energy efficiency and climate goals. A total capital ceiling of 7.55 billion for 2026 to 2030 was allocated to the Department of Education and Youth under the National Development Plan Review. This is a record-level investment in school buildings. It will expand the number of school places, significantly increase provision for special education and upgrade and modernise our school infrastructure. The impact of this will be felt in communities right around the country. This 7.55 billion investment will be prioritised to ensure that every child has a school place and supports the overall operation of the school system and youth sector in terms of capital infrastructure. The department puts a very strong emphasis on achieving value for money, and our focus is on delivering good quality, functional accommodation for schools based on our suite of standard designs and specifications. That's the response I was given by the officials within the Department of Education, but I wish you well in the meeting tomorrow, and I think it's important that you do engage with the Minister. Maybe they might get some good news out of it. Go raibh maith agat.