Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Loftus and the team from the planning and building unit in the Department of Education. It is great to have them here. The figures are phenomenal. The opening statement points out that we have 4,000 schools and nearly 1 million children. The unit delivers accommodation, buildings and schools for children when they move from primary to post-primary schools. The unit bases a lot of its work on the details provided by the census of population. We are going to be getting a lot more detail from the census later but in essence we are looking at around 5 million people, 1 million of whom are children. Of course, there are additional children coming from Ukraine now. I ask the team to provide a breakdown of the numbers of children we currently have from Ukraine or other countries, fleeing desperate situations, at both primary and post-primary level. Is there a breakdown of those figures and are such children included in the Department's plans for future provision?

I am delighted to hear from Mr. Dolan, whose name is easy for me to remember, that there a focus on the climate agenda. Coming from the west, my focus would particularly be on older schools. I am also interested in the impact of housing and how the housing sector contributes to emissions and so on. The Western Development Commission talks about housing in the west as being the oldest, percentage-wise, in the country. We are going to have a big battle with that. Some of my questions for the Department might be around just transition. My area is Roscommon and east Galway, where some areas have been impacted by the changes with Bord na Móna, peat and so on. There is an awful lot more funding coming through Europe and through the just transition fund for particular regions in Ireland that have been poorly affected in terms of work, labour and so on. Would that have any impact on efforts to retrofit some of our ancient buildings, not the newer buildings? I know there are some amazing new school builds. Is there any impact of just transition on primary schools in terms of the focus on retrofitting? I am thinking in particular of the possibility of working with the Western Development Commission and some of those other groups.

I acknowledge that in excess of 900 schools have been built and that we are looking at funding of nearly €4.4 billion from 2021 to 2025. I am delighted to see the amount of funding. What I am not so delighted about, and they have been mentioned here, are the delays. The officials will be aware of an issue I have raised a number of times, coming from Ballinasloe, of a school that is now 27 years waiting. I know it is at stage 2B and I can see Mr. Loftus looking at me and indicating he knows the school. When it went through planning and statutory approval, I was on tenterhooks and was getting so excited. The challenge is that further information is now requested.

Mr. Loftus said he is expanding his team. He is looking at additional accommodation and I can only state that additional accommodation and modular units are what we will have to look at for so many of our schools. Some schools are in dire need. I refer to DEIS schools, which make up one in four of our schools.

There was mention of a geographic information system, GIS, which we are using now, with a wide range of data. I would like a comment around that as well. I welcome the shortlisting for a Civil Service innovation award. The GIS includes data on zonings, planned residential developments, and residential completions. Might it include information about flood zones and things like that? Where is the assistance for design teams for priority schools like this one in Ballinasloe? Mr. Loftus referred to project management teams for serious major capital infrastructure projects. What assistance has been given here? I have been working with the board of management. I know this crops up. When I speak with the Department, I am told it is not the Department's responsibility yet because it is still at stage 2B and it is with the design team. There is a principal trying to manage this as a project manager. Running a school after the past few years presents a lot of challenges. That is my specific query.

More generally, I would like to know what supports are going to be put in place. We can acknowledge there are challenges, for example in respect of areas in the west where we have many special areas of conservation, SACs, and it is a challenge for us in a lot of different areas. If we are looking to build a school and we are 27 years waiting, is this a priority? Does this deserve project management attention from the Department of Education?

I know there are school builds happening. They are on the Department's website and I very much welcome the updates the officials are able to give. It is very important. I also acknowledge the work the Department has done around special schools and the additional accommodation for them. It has been done in a rapid manner. The officials are working to deliver the additional accommodation units as quickly as possible.

On contractors and procurement, there is a challenge with Brexit. Is it still possible to use many of the groups that were doing procurement around additional accommodation prior to Brexit? If so, that is great, but if there are delays in projects being delivered due to health and safety, not meeting European Union guidelines or whatever, what needs to be done?

There was reference to a Gaelscoil earlier. I welcome that the Department is working on a Gaelscoil project in Roscommon town which is at preliminary design stage. That is great to see. It is about working with those groups. However, where there is a 27-year delay or similar serious delays, it is a real issue for me. What support is being offered?