Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know there were specific questions. I will try to get back to them during the supplementary questions but for the purposes of the record of the House, I will lay out what has happened over recent days since I was briefed on this last Thursday. I just want to update the House.

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. Before I put the specifics on record, I assure the House that the health and safety of students and staff are of paramount importance and that any and all actions taken to date are predicated on ensuring their safety. Ardgillan community college, Balbriggan, is a 1,000 pupil school under the patronage of Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board, DDLETB, with a current enrolment of 910 pupils. Phase 1 of the school building was built in 2009 as a design and build contract completed on behalf of my Department by Western Building Systems. This was followed by phase 2 in 2015, which was delivered by a different contractor. A fire safety assessment of phase 1 was carried out and necessary works were being undertaken to remediate issues discovered during the assessment. During the course of these works additional issues of a structural nature were identified. Opening up works in two classrooms took place last Friday and, following an inspection by a consultant engineer on behalf of DDLETB, significant structural issues were discovered. Having considered the engineer’s advice, and in the interests of the health and safety of the students and staff of the school, DDLETB in consultation with my Department and school management made the decision to close phase 1 of the school building immediately.

A structural assessment was carried out today at Tyrrelstown Educate Together national school and at the adjoining St Luke’s national school. Some of the type of issues identified in Ardgillan community college were found and both schools are being closed as a precautionary measure to allow for further detailed investigations. This development impacts 1,200 pupils and their parents. I am aware that there are also two crèches on the same site. My Department will work closely with the school authorities in respect of interim accommodation solutions for these pupils. The target is to have interim accommodation solutions in place for the pupils as they return to school following the mid-term break.

The Department acknowledges the disruption that school closures have on families and parents and on the students and staff of the affected school. They will be kept fully up to date with developments. We will have a direct line of communication from the Department for the schools. To update the House, every school in the original bundle of 30 was contacted by the Department today. As a result of the news this evening, the Department now intends to conduct structural assessments on all remaining schools constructed by Western Building Systems. We are going to do structural assessments on all of them, even those built post 2014 after the building control regulations came in. This involves some 40 schools in total. These initial structural assessments have been commenced this week as a matter of urgency. We will continue to do that this week and next week at a very fast rate and with great urgency. School authorities will continue to be kept fully informed of developments. We will also outline a timeline and chronology of the order in which schools will be contacted and assessed tomorrow.

I assure the Deputies that at all times the key priority of my Department is the health and safety of students and staff. I also want to provide assurances that every effort will be made, working closely with local authorities and communities, to identify solutions that will provide alternative accommodation for the students until matters have been resolved with their permanent school buildings. On the question of when we seek to have students back in Ardgillan community college, we hope to have them back in the week after the mid-term break, that is Monday week.

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