Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving us the opportunity to raise this very important issue on the floor of the House. Last week's announcement by the Department of 16 new second level schools was met by real disappointment in Kildare South. An Educate Together campaign has highlighted concerns about future capacity at second level in Kildare South. The campaign has been running for the past four years, but there is obviously a belief within the Department that proposed extensions and a new build at St. Paul's in Monasterevin will suffice in addressing increased demand. However, many people in south Kildare disagree with the Department. What nobody disagrees on is that there will be increased future demand in County Kildare. The disagreements centre on the level of that demand, where it will be and how it should be met. It is important that we move quickly to deal with the matter. Following last week's announcement, the focus must be on expediting the proposed extensions as quickly as possible and the new build at St. Paul's in Monasterevin which has been delayed for far too long. It is only then that we will be able to determine whether we can meet the need for second level places in the area and, as I hope, push for a new school down the line.

A new school building for St. Paul's in Monasterevin is even more critical than this time last week. We spent hours with departmental officials yesterday at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills going through the history of this case which I have highlighted with the Minister on previous occasions. We spoke about the conditions students and staff had to endure, the history of the case, from the explosion in 2000 when prefabs were provided, inclusion in the 2005 building list and the fact that the Department and Kildare County Council had worked together in sorting out a site which had hit an awful lot of problems. Site selection is something which will have to be reviewed.

According to the Department's profile, construction will start in quarter three of 2019, but the design team for St. Paul's is confident that the project could be ready for construction by quarter one of 2019, a good six months earlier. Six months is a long time in the context of the school year. Departmental officials said there would be no delay in that regard. I urge the Minister to ensure every effort will be made to see construction starting at the beginning rather than the end of next year. I also ask him to ensure the plan submitted by the design team last week will be turned around by the Department by the end of this month, if possible. I know that such a turnaround normally takes eight to 12 weeks, but priority must be given to St. Paul's and the delivery of the extensions at Cross and Passion College in Kilcullen, Athy community college, Patrician secondary school in Newbridge and the 500 spaces at St. Conleth's community college that are being constructed.

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