Dessie Ellis (Dublin North-West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim an-bhuíoch den Aire as an seans labhairt faoi Ghaelscoil Cholmcille, a bunaíodh in 1996. Gaelscoil Cholmcille was founded in 1996. Its first years were spent in the upstairs rooms of the football club St. Kevin’s in Santry, Dublin 9. It is a very successful Gaelscoil and has a great academic reputation.

It is a very popular choice for parents in the area. More than 80% of its pupils live within 2 miles of the Gaelscoil due to its popularity. Unfortunately, the school has to turn away a large number of local children due to the lack of spaces in the school.

In 2008, the school moved into temporary accommodation at its present location in Coolock Lane. This accommodation consists of fast-build prefab-like structures. The Gaelscoil was promised at the time that this move would last for a maximum of five years and that a permanent school building with all of the necessary amenities would be built to accommodate the it. Tá an scoil ag feitheamh 17 mbliana ar fhoirgneamh nua. There is not even proper road signage outside the school to identify that it is there. In itself, this is hazardous for parents, pupils and staff. In fact, there have been a number of incidents and near misses and one serious accident outside the school.

Due to the fact that these are temporary structures not designed for long-term use, the Department continues to waste money on emergency works to keep them operable. The school is basically firefighting because maintenance problems continually arise. One January a few years ago, the boiler failed and there was no heat in the school for the whole of that month. The Department of Education ended up spending €50,000 to replace it. The building is so old that the school cannot replace bulbs in the lighting fixtures and has to spend a lot of money replacing the fixtures in their entirety. The school's plumbing is progressively failing. Every year, money is being spent on replacing pipes, fixing water heaters and general maintenance. Tomorrow, someone is due to visit the school to survey it for the installation of solar panels, another potential huge expenditure in respect of a structure that was supposed to be temporary.

There has been much back and forth about a permanent site for the school. The management was originally told that the site next door would be where the new school would be built. This was discounted because, apparently, the area was designated as a no-fly zone. A swap was then discussed between Dublin City Council and Department of Education in respect of another parcel of land nearer to Oscar Traynor Road. This was discussed for years without any decision being made on the proposal. Even if a decision is made on where the building would be built, it could still take at least another five years for a brick to be laid once all the planning processes and so on are completed.

In 2004, my former colleague Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin raised this matter with the then Minister for Education. In 2017, it was raised again as a Topical Issue. In 2018, the parents put up three billboards at the entrance to the school to highlight their campaign for a permanent structure when the Minister for Education paid the school a visit. This has been an ongoing campaign, and parents and staff are very frustrated that no decision has been made regarding a site for a permanent building. Tá naoi seomra sa scoil agus thart ar 274 dalta. Tá siad ag lorg 16 seomra agus cúpla seomra speisialta san fhoirgneamh nua.

This situation is unfair to the staff, the pupils and to the parents. If the Department really cares about staff and pupil well-being, it needs to make a decision on a site for the construction of a permanent school that has the basic facilities a school needs, such as a sports hall and buildings that can accommodate the growing and diverse needs of its pupils.

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