Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, and I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue matter. At the outset, I must outline my disappointment that the senior Minister, Deputy Foley, is not available tonight to discuss this matter. The Minister is familiar with the school, which is Davitt College in Castlebar, as she visited it on 15 September last year. I have no doubt that the Minister understands the importance of this project for the school community, its staff and its management. I wish to raise similar concerns with regard to St. Bríd's Special School, also in Castlebar, which the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, has visited.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, for coming to the Chamber as I outline the deep frustration, anger and disappointment at how these projects are being managed under the school building programme. The reality facing both schools in eight weeks time when students will return for the 2023-24 academic year is that neither school will have sufficient accommodation to house the intake that is due at the end of August. If this transpires, it will be a shambolic reflection of the planning and building unit within the Department of Education. That is the reality of this serious situation.

A commitment was given to Davitt College more than two and half years ago that the accommodation issue would be prioritised to facilitate growth in numbers if the college lifted its enrolment to 170 pupils, which it did. Through the board of management and through the management of the school, it reached that decision. Enrolment notices have now been issued to prospective students for the upcoming academic year. As the Minister of State will be aware, for those who have enrolled there are legal obligations around this. It is the same for St. Bríd's Special School. Both schools have continued to ask the Department for information as to when this promised and committed additional school accommodation will be made available to them, but with no success. The latest update they have received is a request from the Department, which made direct contact with the schools, to source their own alternative accommodation or to reconfigure accommodation that is already in place.

As I said, some time ago Davitt College received approval for seven mainstream classrooms, five special education teaching rooms, an art room, a science room and a participation area, as well as for the reconfiguration of existing rooms for two special classrooms under additional accommodation needs. This is to be delivered by Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board, ETB, under the Department's devolved reconfiguration and modular accommodation programme. The college has accepted a large number of extra students for the upcoming academic year. St. Bríd's Special School in Castlebar also received a similar request to reconfigure its current accommodation. The school had 14 inquiries for enrolment from September to add to its current unchanged enrolment of 28 pupils. After it was confirmed that it would receive two modular special educational needs classrooms in April, they accepted the enrolment but have since heard nothing on their delivery. The difficulty for both of these schools is that like many schools which are caught in a situation where they have a growing school population, they are still in limbo as to when they will receive their extra modular accommodation. The Government's commitment has not been fulfilled in these instances. How did we get to this point?

What is needed to get these projects developed for the staff and students of Davitt College and St. Bríd's Special School, which were faithfully promised to them by the Department of Education?

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