Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the reply. This is a huge issue because St. Paul's in Monastervin has been waiting for years to get onto the school building programme. Thankfully, it is now on it.

There are significant capacity issues. At present, the school is full. Basically, no further pupils can be enrolled. Some students from the catchment area are attending schools in Athy, Portlaoise and Portarlington.

I welcome that the new project would cater for 800 pupils. It was to go to construction this year. The problem with the project relates to drainage. I have spoken to senior staff in the local authority about this matter on a number of occasions. I have also spoken to officials in the Department about it. I wrote to the Minister about it. The issue needs to be resolved. Kildare County Council has assured me on a number of occasions that it will provide every assistance to the Minister's officials but it needs active engagement from them in order to move matters forward. As already stated, the problem relates to drainage. Basically, a way needs to be found to drain the surface water adjacent to the school building to the River Barrow via lands that are not owned by the Department of Education and Skills and I must point out that there is a wayleave arrangement in place that falls under the control of the local authority.

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