Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the urgent need to progress the long-awaited school building project for St. John Bosco Junior Boys National School, St. John Bosco Senior Boys National School and Mary, Help of Christians Girls' National School on the Navan Road. These schools have served generations of families in communities on the Navan Road and in Ashtown with distinction, but the reality is that the school buildings have reached the end of their life. Parents, teachers, staff members and past pupils all say the same thing whenever I speak to them. These buildings are outdated, deteriorating and no longer provide the modern learning environment that their children and staff deserve.

These are three distinct schools, but they share a common vision. Rather than simply replacing the existing buildings, they have come together with an ambitious proposal to create one educational campus on the existing site. This project has the potential to be one of the most significant primary school developments in the State. However, the project has been stalled at stage 2a since 2024. It now needs real momentum because this is about more than bricks and mortar.

Through my engagement with families across Dublin 7 and into Dublin 15, I know that many parents feel they have too few options when it comes to choosing schools. This is an area where single-sex provision dominates and many families have gone without the suitable option of co-educational schooling. This is not just my opinion; the Department's recent primary school survey confirms it. The survey looked at educational provision through co-education and through multidenominational provision and through the medium of Irish. Some 73% of parents who responded across these three schools supported co-educational provision across Cabra, Phibsborough and Dublin 7, which is their school planning area. Support rose to almost 89% among households with children currently in primary school. The results are striking. In Mary, Help of Christians, 96 out of 140 respondents supported co-education. In St. John Bosco Senior Boys National School, it was 100 out of 131, which is 76%. In the junior national school, 46 out of 60 or 77% supported co-education.

Following the publication of the survey results, I understand that the Department intends to engage with boards of management to discuss the findings and consider the future configuration of schools. I also understand that boards of management have been asked to engage with parents, staff, patrons and the wider community, and to notify the patron and the Department by the end of October as to whether they want to put these results into action. Engagement is welcome. I understand that if about 50% of the school population participated in the survey, schools may want to engage further to bring the whole school community with them. This gives them the timeline to do that.

We have a real opportunity here. There is an appetite for change. That is not just clear in the survey but when I speak to families at their doors, which we are privileged to be able to do when we are canvassing. I have two questions. First, what practical supports will the Department provide to schools that decide they wish to move towards co-educational provision while remaining on the existing campus where they have three separate schools? Is the Department working to a timeline? Second, could the Minister of State assure me that this building project is being actively prioritised and that the design process will be sufficiently flexible to accommodate co-educational provision?

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