Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising this and for his ongoing focus on infrastructure delivery in north Kildare following our discussion in the House last week. It is our collective priority to ensure every child in the State has access to a school place. I know the Department of Education and Youth, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, are working hard on that. We remain determined to do that. Kildare is an interesting county in the sense that you can see enough school places in the county as whole. Of course, as the Deputy has pointed out they are not spread equally across the county. There are pinch points, particularly in the part of Kildare represented by the Deputy. That is why the roll-out of the pilot Apply to School system marks a significant step forward in sharing information. I hope that can be rolled out nationwide. That also includes Celbridge. The Celbridge campus project has been devolved for delivery to the National Development Finance Agency. There are three schools within the campus project, St. Raphael's Special School, Celbridge Community School and Scoil Naomh Pádraig. In March, the Department formally approved the project to progress to stage 2A of the architectural design process. This involved the design team developing the design, fully costing the planning of the campus project and preparing the necessary documentation. The NDFA will be continuing to engage with the school authorities. I will ask the Minister to get an updated timeline for the Deputy.

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