Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Before I speak on the substantive issue, I commend and thank my colleague, Deputy Crowe, for raising the previous issue and add my support to it. We need to do all we possibly can and more to halt, as best we can, the genocide that is taking place in Gaza. It is truly an affront to our collective humanity.

My Topical Issue relates to the provision of a premises in Tramore for Naíonra Philib Barún. We have there a thriving Irish-medium early years facility, full to capacity on a Department of education-owned site adjacent to a Gaelscoil. The Government has failed and is continuing to fail to fund a proper building, seemingly because the naíonra, as the vast bulk of naíonraí do, serves ECCE-aged children. Naíonra Philib Barún has been at the heart of early years education in Tramore since 1983. It is rooted in the community and, as I alluded, affiliated with Gaelscoil Philib Barún, and it is central to the development of Irish-medium education in the town.

Tá an naíonra seo ag feidhmiú i seomra amháin i seanprefab gan an spás ná an caighdeán atá de dhíth nó atá tuillte ag na páistí. Tá sé lonnaithe i suíomh atá faoi úinéireacht na Roinne oideachais. Tá an tseirbhís lán go béal. Tá liosta feithimh ann. Tá suíomh nua ina seilbh acu, ach toisc go dtosaíonn an naíonra le páistí ó dhá bhliain agus ocht mí faoin scéim ECCE, tá siad eisiata ó mhaoiniú caipitil faoin scéim building blocks extension. Tá sé sin míréasúnta agus déanann sé dochar don earnáil Ghaeilge, sna luathbhlianta go háirithe, ar an taobh sin de Chontae Phort Láirge.

12 o’clock

Twenty-two children attend the naíonra daily. The service also includes a morning and an afterschool service for children attending Gaelscoil Philib Barún. It is operating out of a single room in an old prefab that has long passed its sell-by date. With an extra room, they could double their capacity since the demand is there, as shown by the waiting list. They have secured a new and better site right beside the Gaelscoil but because they deliver the ECCE programme and do not take children from one year of age, they are blocked from accessing capital support. I raised the matter in a parliamentary question last week and, if I am honest, the Minister's reply did not inspire much confidence. It was a stock answer and simply referred the naíonra to the local childcare committee, suggesting it might be able to point them in the right direction. If we are honest, that is not a solution. It was so weak, I am not sure if it even qualifies as a cop-out.

The question is simple: if a naíonra like Naíonra Philib Barún, with its record, capacity, demand and a new site, which is ready to go, cannot access capital support from the Department, then who can? What does it say about the Department of children and the Government's approach to Irish-medium early years education? I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, to relay my disappointment and the long-standing disappointment of those involved in the naíonra to the Minister for children. I ask that she would look again at how her Department chooses the projects it will fund, and that she will make the right call by providing the capital necessary to build a new premises for Naíonra Philib Barún.

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