Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Labour Party for putting forward this motion. I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on it. The Government's decision to halt the 58 school building projects is not only disgraceful but nonsensical. The fact that the Minister for Education is refusing to provide a list of the affected projects and their costs is completely unacceptable. There is no excuse for this secrecy towards Members of Parliament or the public. The public have a right to know where public money is being spent and where it is being pulled. I asked the Minister last week and I will ask again today what she is hiding from the Opposition. When will she publish the list of delayed school building projects?

One school that we know will be affected is Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí in Donegal town. The stalling of the Gaelscoil building is devastating for Donegal and for me represents the complete disregard for acceptable standards for educational buildings and for education through our country's national language. The Gaelscoil has been in second-hand prefabs for 24 years, many of them damp with broken floors and windows. How is this acceptable? How can we expect to educate children and facilitate teachers in such an environment? It took the school a long time to get on the building list in the first place, and after finally getting on the list in 2016 seven years later, nothing has been built. Now the Government wants to stall the project indefinitely, although the school had a contractor ready to go, which puts the school at risk of losing the contractor and starting the tendering process all over again. I call on the Minister for Education to visit Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí in Donegal town and to engage with the board and management on the issue.

I also support the call in the motion to ensure that no child would be left without a place on the school transport scheme. Going forward, concession ticket holders need to be included in school bus numbers so that adequate space can be arranged before the school year begins and all children can be catered for.

In addition, I support the call for the return of the publication of leaving certificate results in August. The delayed release of results puts massive strain on students and universities and makes it difficult for applicants to secure places in other jurisdictions that need it. In particular, this affects my constituency of Donegal, where many students go to college in the North. The proportion of students from the Republic going to college in the North is down from more than 4,000 in 2010 to just over 2,000 in 2021. The housing crisis has meant that students are under enough stress to secure accommodation as it is, and this stress is only heightened when results are published so late, causing a frenzy to secure accommodation in such a short timeframe. Students should have the opportunity of going elsewhere, given the fact that, sadly, we have very little to offer them in terms of security. That is the situation they face.

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