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

I thank the Minister for his response. Given that the questions are grouped, I have a fair number of points to make. I will stick to the matter of school extensions in this first supplementary contribution. As the Ceann Comhairle knows well, the project at St. Paul's school in Monasterevin has been beset by numerous delays, not all of which were caused by the Department of Education and Skills. While the project is at pre-qualification of contractors stage, we must ensure there is no delay in moving to tender. I reassured parents this week that the change of Minister would not have any impact on that and that the Department will stand ready. I will stay in touch with the Minister on that one as, I am sure, will the Ceann Comhairle. Athy community college has been devolved and a service-level agreement has been established with Kildare and Wicklow ETB. There are now 440 pupils in that school but it was built for 400 and needs to be extended to accommodate 1,000 pupils. There are prefabricated buildings on site and more are coming while the school is under significant pressure. We cannot have a delay there. I am delighted to see the project for Patrician College in Newbridge go to the NDFA. The next step is planning and design and we must keep pushing because there is significant pressure on school places in the Newbridge-Kildare area.

There has been a delay in the opening of the extension to St. Conleth's and that has had a particular impact on six pupils with mild to moderate intellectual and special educational needs. This is causing serious distress. Officials in the Department made the point previously that they would stand with the parents if there were any delays.

The Ceann Comhairle and other public representatives in the area have worked on this matter as well. What the parents have been offered to date, namely, home tuition, whereby they must find tutors, is not sufficient. Huge distress has been caused to those parents who thought they would have places in September. In fairness to the principal of the school, it is not her fault. She is doing her best to manage a very difficult situation. I ask that the special education section of the Department give every support to these parents and that we try to get these six pupils into their special accommodation as soon as possible.

See this speech in context