James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to raise the issue of the Mercy Convent Primary School in Naas and to set out the sorry tale I have raised many times with the Minister, Deputy Foley. I want to put on record what has happened in this extremely frustrating situation. There are schools around the country, many in my own constituency, where boards of management, principals and staff are looking for a new-build project to be approved, to get funding or to advance. In this particular instance of the Mercy Convent school in Naas, there is a brand new building sitting idle on the school grounds.

What happened is that after all of the usual delays, lobbying and campaigning to get it off the ground, the project started in 2017. The building commenced and the school moved into prefabs next door to have a temporary location during the construction phase. Lo and behold, in 2020, everything ground to a halt because of a row with the contractor. That happens and it is part of construction life, unfortunately, but we are now four years on. The school is directly opposite my office in Naas and I have been on site with the principal, Cathal Ruane, who is doing a great job advocating for his school, the school community and the parents and staff. I have sat with him in his office and looked out of his prefab window at the brand new building that is co-located on the same site but is inaccessible to the students, staff or anybody else. Unfortunately, it remains a shell which has not been completed because of this dispute. It is understandable that a dispute can cause a delay of three or four months, but four years is really pushing it beyond the beyond.

In addition to the delay, the costs associated with that include the cost of security because the building site had to be secured and policed, the cost of maintenance because the shell had to be protected and windows, ceilings and roofs had to be protected and repaired in some cases, and the cost of renting prefabs because, as well as the new school building that has to be maintained, the temporary prefabs on the same site have to be maintained. There is also the cost of various rows with subcontractors, and while I will not go into all of them on the floor of the Dáil, I have had calls from various people involved about everything from the highest to the lowest level of the project with all kinds of allegations, such as tools being locked in, projects being left behind and scaffolding on site. It is a mess.

The school community and I, as the local TD, want to get this project advanced again. I hope this is the last time I have to raise it on the floor of the Dáil. We thought some good news had come through after I had been persistent on this issue last year. Stage 2B applications were received in March 2023, the tenders came back in July 2023 and a tender report issued in September 2023. At the time, I gave what I thought was the good news to the principal and the school community that things were moving on again. Everybody was relieved and thought that, maybe by September 2024, we would have some progress and we could even dream of it opening in September 2025 or September 2026. We are still there and we have not had any sight of it. I believe a letter of intent is needed to give effect to the next stage and to move the project on.

It is remarkable. This may be the only site of its kind in the country. I think it has cost €9 million to date but that does not include the cost of maintenance, security, renting prefabs or all the attendant costs. It is a brand-new school building that is lying idle, with children being taught daily in prefabs beside it. It is a Flann O’Brienesque or Kafkaesque, crazy situation that has to be addressed.

There is a need to inject urgency with the relevant officials, the Department or whoever else to issue that letter of intent. We need to move to the next stage and address this outrageous lacuna.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the matter as it provides an opportunity to outline the current position with regard to the major building project for Mercy Convent Primary School, Naas. I know the Deputy has been consistent in raising the issue with the Minister, Deputy Foley. As the House is aware, the project is included in the Department of Education’s construction programme, which will be delivered under the national development plan as part of the Project Ireland 2040 framework. The Department’s planning and building unit is currently assessing its work programme and priorities for 2024 in the context of overall requirements. Mercy Convent Primary School remains a priority for delivery on behalf of the Department. A tender report was received by the Department in quarter 3 of 2023, as noted by the Deputy, and is currently under review. The authorisation to issue the letter of acceptance has not issued. The next steps for this project will be the completion of the tender process and progression to stage 4, namely, construction.

I assure the Deputy and the Mercy Convent Primary School community that the school building project will be progressed and delivered. The Department of Education will update the school authorities when there is a further update on the progression of this major and important project.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for that commitment. I want the Department to go further, however. I appreciate there is only so much the Minister of State can say and do tonight. I thank him for the commitment to take the matter to the Minister, Deputy Foley. As he stated, I have discussed the matter with her on several occasions. I acknowledge her good faith on the matter but we need to see action, the letter of intent issued and the matter moved on.

A separate issue relating to the school is that two years ago, it applied to embrace a co-educational approach, with both sexes attending. Traditionally, it was co-educational up to a certain point at which children of one sex left. The senior classes were single-sex. The application was supported by staff, the school community and parental bodies. A poll, consultation or vote was held within the school and the application was overwhelmingly supported by staff and parents. We are now two years on. When a child is attending a particular school, parents have decisions to make that flow from whether a sibling can go to the same school. These are important choices parents make annually which affect the whole family, work decisions and related matters.

The application for co-educational status has still not been progressed. I realise this is not entirely within the control of the Department. It may not be within its control at all but, rather, a matter of patronage. I pay credit to Bishop Denis Nulty. I spoke to him this evening on this issue and am progressing it through the patron as well. However, I ask the Department to use its influence to address the issue. There is significant disappointment that the school does not have its new building and now the co-educational situation is adding insult to injury. A new school building for a school that is co-educational from junior to senior streams is what is wanted in that school community. It is not too much to ask. I ask the Minister to make every effort to advance both issues, primarily that of the school building, which is within the domain of the Department, but also the co-educational aspect, which is an important issue for the school community.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I assure the Deputy the Minister is very committed to this project. Since 2020, the Department of Education has invested in the region of €4.3 billion in schools throughout the country, involving the completion of more than 800 school building projects, with construction currently under way at approximately 300 other projects, including 34 new school buildings. The 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of more than €1.2 billion. There are also 90 projects currently at tender stage, including a further 28 new school buildings. There is a record level of investment in schools and new school buildings under the Minister, Deputy Foley.

I will relay to her the Deputy's urgency on the issue of the school becoming co-educational. The position of the Department of Education in respect of post-primary or primary schools requesting to become co-educational is that the decision-making authority belongs to the patron of the school in question, as the Deputy has acknowledged. Any proposal to change the status of a school requires consultation with the relevant stakeholders, including parents, teachers, students, local communities and patrons of other schools in the school planning area. Such proposals must then be applied for and agreed with the Department of Education, which undertakes a review of such proposals. It should be noted that each change of status within a school is dealt with on a case-by-case basis by an officer of the Department of Education.