Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Education and Skills is currently in the Seanad so, on his behalf, I will update the House on this important issue. Our first priority, as always, is the safety of school students and, of course, staff. I want to acknowledge the co-operation of parents, school principals, staff, patrons and boards of management through this very challenging period.

Structural assessments have now been completed in all 42 schools constructed by Western Building Systems. The summary outcome of the assessments is as follows. Nineteen have been cleared fully to open without the need for any precautionary works and 19 others have been enabled to open in full following external precautionary measures in the form of fencing around all or part of the building and protective decking. Three schools are able to open initially at ground floor level only following the implementation of both internal and external precautionary measures: this relates to two schools in Tyrellstown and one in Lucan, and all of these schools will be open before the end of the week. At Ardgillan, one building in phase one of the community college has been closed but it has been possible for all students to be accommodated elsewhere on the campus.

The implementation of all necessary precautionary measures was completed last Sunday night, 4 November, to enable schools to reopen this week. It was facilitated by an intensive effort involving more than 250 construction workers across all sites, many of whom worked through the bank holiday weekend. I particularly want to record my thanks to them for that.

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