Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ring for raising this Topical Issue matter which I am answering on behalf of the Minister for Education who is not here tonight. It gives us the opportunity to set out for the House the position with regard to the current status of the Sacred Heart School, Westport, County Mayo. The Sacred Heart School is a Mercy all-girls school under the trusteeship of CEIST, as Deputy Ring said. The school has an enrolment of 532 pupils.

With regard to the major project for the school included on the Department’s school building programme, the Minister can confirm that the school originally submitted an application under the Department’s additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme and following detailed technical reports carried out on the existing school accommodation and assessment of the future needs, the Department recommended that the optimum solution for the school is the provision of a new building for the Sacred Heart School to be provided on the existing site. It is proposed that the new school building will provide accommodation for 600 pupils and provision for pupils with special education needs. The accommodation will include state-of-the-art modern facilities, including science laboratories, construction-engineering-technology rooms, home economics rooms, arts and crafts rooms, a multimedia room, a design and communication graphics room, a library, general purpose area and a physical education, PE, hall with associated rooms. This is in addition to the generous suite of accommodation that will be provided to meet the needs of students with special educational needs.

New school buildings are designed to be welcoming, inclusive environments and the principles of universal design are embedded in all the Department’s technical guidance for building projects. The general design guidelines include guidance on the principles of universal access as part of a whole school design approach. A suite of such technical guidance documents is published on the Department's website. Additionally, technical guidance for new school buildings provides for high levels of energy efficiency.

As Deputy Ring will be aware, the school site presents certain technical challenges. Nevertheless the project brief for this key new school development is being advanced with a view to progressing the project to the architectural planning stage as soon as possible. Pending the delivery of the new school building, the Department has provided interim accommodation in 2022 to allow the school to vacate an existing building considered to be in poor condition. This interim accommodation includes eight mainstream classrooms, two science laboratories and two other specialist rooms. The Department has a strong track record of delivery of school building projects throughout 2022. Under Project Ireland 2040, the Department is investing more than €4 billion over the period 2021 to 2025.

Once the brief for the new school building for the Sacred Heart School in Westport is finalised, the Department will look to progress this project into the architectural planning process as soon as possible and there will be continued engagement with the school’s patron, CEIST, in this regard.

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