Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It would not be appropriate for me, as the Deputy will appreciate, to comment directly on an individual school and that is not the purpose of the Topical Issue matter.

It has always been and will continue to be the case that we will operate on the back of full public health advice. All the operations within our schools, from their reopening and the measures we put in place at that time, have been under the direction of public health authorities, and those authorities continue to make judgments on the operation of our schools where there may be a Covid-19 incident. It was a request of school management and leaders that no individual school would have that burden of responsibility placed upon it. We are required to follow public health advice as it is issued.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which has also been raised with me on a consistent basis by the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne. Today gives me an opportunity to clarify the position of the Department of Education's plans for upgrading school buildings, including the Christian Brothers Secondary School, New Ross. The Deputy may be aware that CBS New Ross is a Catholic, co-educational post-primary school in New Ross with an enrolment in 2020 of 397 pupils. This represents an increase of 24% in the past five years.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that my Department approved capital funding for CBS New Ross in 2019 for the provision of four general classrooms, including one general classroom prefab replacement, one special education teaching room, one design and communication graphics room and one home economics room. This project was devolved to the school authorities for delivery and they were approved to go to planning in July 2021, which I was pleased to see. My Department's planning and building unit also received an application in June 2017 from CBS New Ross seeking capital funding for the provision of a physical education, PE, hall. The school authority was informed in writing that it is currently not possible to consider this application.

Under the national development plan, increased funding has been provided for the school sector capital investment programme, which is an extremely positive and proactive step. This funding allows for a continued focus on the provision of new permanent school places to keep pace with demographic demand and also provides for an additional focus on the refurbishment of existing school buildings to include the building and modernisation of PE facilities in post-primary schools. During the national development plan period for 2018 to 2020, there were 526 completed building projects under the large-scale capital programme and the additional school accommodation scheme. These projects delivered in excess of 48,000 school places, including permanent accommodation for 229 special classes and additional capacity for 67 classrooms in 14 special schools throughout the country.

The Department also has a significant existing pipeline of projects to be delivered over the coming years to meet capacity needs, managed under the large-scale capital programme and the additional school accommodation scheme. This will make significant progress in providing modern, energy-efficient school facilities and the replacement of temporary accommodation.

The immediate priority of my Department is providing 20,000 new and replacement school places each year to ensure every child has a school place. However, later in the national development plan period there will be an increasing focus on the upgrade and refurbishment of the existing school stock. This will include a physical education hall build and modernisation programme to ensure students in all post-primary schools have access to these facilities. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and giving me the opportunity to outline the current position with that type of school build.

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