Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue of the timeline in respect of two new schools projects in Portlaoise, St. Francis special school and a new second level school. It is well known and well documented that there has been a major increase in the population in County Laois, and in Portlaoise in particular, over the last ten to 20 years. According to the last two censuses, outside of the major cities, Portlaoise was the fastest growing stand-alone town in Ireland. There has been substantial investment for schools in the town in recent years, many of which have commenced or are under construction.

I am seeking a timeline from the Minister, Deputy Bruton, in regard to the replacement building for St. Francis special school which is currently located on the Timahoe Road. This school has 90 mild to moderate educationally challenged students. It is a special school. The children who attend it are special and so, too, are the teachers but they have been in the current building a long time. As part of schools development in Portlaoise, one of the existing primary schools, St. Paul's national school, is being relocated. The patron, through the parish and the bishop, have made the St. Paul's site available for the new St. Francis special school. I hope that this site will be vacated as soon as possible.

I am asking the Minister to do everything in his power to ensure the process in respect of construction of the new St. Francis special school is progressed quickly because the St. Paul's school site will be vacated next year. Earlier today I spoke to Fr. Paddy Byrne of the board of management and he told me that the project is at initial design stage. The chairman and board of management, along with the teachers, staff, parents and pupils are looking forward to the provision of this new school as quickly as possible.

The current school building is old and includes many prefabs. New prefabs were purchased recently and I understand an application for emergency funding to allow certain works to be completed, such that the school is in a reasonable condition until such time as it is vacated, is awaiting approval. The reason I am asking about this school in particular is that most of the other school projects have either be given the go ahead or are progressing. St. Francis special school caters for children with mild to moderate educationally challenged students, who cannot be left behind. For this reason, I ask that the Minister apply pressure to ensure the timeline is adhered to.

In regard to the second level school, the Minister recently announced that the new patronage of that school will be the Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board in conjunction with a gaelscoil. I attended a meeting several months ago at which applications were being put together locally in relation to that patronage. I am pleased that this is going ahead because ultimately it was the only application submitted from the town and there is general support from everybody for it. The current CBS and Scoil Chriost Rí convent school are overflowing. I am told both schools having waiting lists of 40 students for next year.

We already have a new college in Portlaoise which is run by the ETB. It is important now that the patrons have been announced and a site has been identified at the old Centrepoint shopping centre on the Mountrath Road, which is close to Portlaoise college, that work on the new school commences as soon as possible. They are the two school projects that are in the system for Portlaoise. I urge the Minister to keep the pressure on to ensure they are progressed. I would also like to make the case for a new school for Kolbe special school which caters for students with profound physical and other challenges. There may be an opportunity for joined-up thinking in terms of the co-location of the Kolbe and St. Francis special schools on the site that will be vacated by St. Paul's national school. There is an excellent opportunity to accommodate both schools on that site.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Sean Fleming for raising this issue, which illustrates that Portlaoise is at the acute end of a problem being experienced across the country generally. This year, provision is being made for 20,000 additional school places, which is indicative of the pressure of growing populations. I acknowledge that Laois and Portlaoise in particular have been at the sharp end of those pressures.

The Deputy will be aware that a major building project to provide a new post-primary school in Portlaoise is included in my six-year construction programme 2016-2021 and is listed to proceed to tender and construction stages in 2019-2021. The Deputy is also aware that I announced the patronage of the new post-primary schools to open in 2017 and 2018 on 3 November last. In the case of Portlaoise, the patron will be Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board with An Foras Pátrúnachta as trustee partner. The new post-primary school will cater for 1,000 pupils when fully established, which is intended to meet current and future demand at post-primary level in future years.

Deputy Fleming is aware that my Department is working with officials from Laois County Council under the memorandum of understanding in relation to the acquisition process for a suitable permanent site for the school. A number of suitable sites have been identified and technically assessed and engagement with the landowner with respect to one of these options has commenced. However, as I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, there are sensitivities associated with land acquisitions generally and I am not, therefore, in a position to provide further information at this time.

In regard to St. Francis special school, Portlaoise, a major project is included on my six-year construction programme 2016-2021 with the proposed project to be progressed with a view to proceeding to tender and construction stages in 2018. Following a consultation process with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, it was decided that the project is to deliver a new 12 classroom school to facilitate pupils with mild and moderate general learning disability and ASD. Officials from my Department met with representatives of the school’s board of management, together with the patron’s representative in September. With the full support of the patron, it is proposed that the project will deliver a new school building on the site currently occupied by St. Paul’s national school on Borris Road, Portlaoise. The permanent building on this site, which is currently occupied by St. PauI's national school will be demolished as part of the project. The schedule of accommodation for the proposed new school issued to the school authorities and has been favourably received. It is expected that the project will shortly commence the early stages of architectural planning.

Deputy Fleming is aware that St. Paul's national school is one of three primary schools that are being amalgamated. A building project to provide two new 24 classroom schools to accommodate the newly amalgamated schools is expected to be completed towards the end of this year or early next year. The two 24 classroom schools being built are located on a shared campus on parish lands at Aghnaharna. St. Paul's national school will remain at its current premises until such time as the new school is completed and ready for occupation. The Deputy will recognise that the Department is working hard to ensure that these various projects fall in sequence so that we can deliver for the children in Portlaoise. I can assure the Deputy of the commitment of the Department to keep this project moving swiftly. I hope this meets the Deputy's concerns.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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I want to acknowledge the work that has been carried out by the Department in recent years. When I first became a Deputy a number of years ago school accommodation in Portlaoise was very poor. I am satisfied that at the end of this building programme Portlaoise will have the finest suite of new primary and second level schools, which will be the best in the country. The three second level schools currently in the town were built in recent years. As the Minister said, two new parish schools are being built. Over the past couple of years a new gaelscoil, and Educate Together school and a Church of Ireland school were built. This is because of the increase in population in the area and not because Laois is looking for more. There has been huge growth in the population of Laois as a result of the overflow of people from Dublin and the surrounding areas. We must have good schools to meet the needs of all of the people who come from the county or come to live in it.

It is important we keep the pressure on in regard to the projects mentioned.

6 o’clock

The Minister referred to St. Paul's and we hope it will be vacated next year and that we can move on to the demolition phase and the planning for the St. Francis special school. Due to the special needs of those students, people feel they should not be left behind. I ask the Minister to pay special attention to that.

The two new 24-classroom schools in Aughnaharna that the Minister is building as part of the parish school programme are being built as we speak. I have a genuine fear, however, that they will not be big enough and that we will be back looking for an extension. All I can hope is that the architects who have planned the two new schools to amalgamate three existing national schools at a single site have made provision such that extensions may be added quickly when the time comes. Not too many towns are getting an increase in second level schools for 1,000 people. The same is happening at primary level. I encourage the Minister to ensure that the new secondary school goes ahead as soon as possible. I make a last appeal to the Minister not to forget the Kolbe special school. They are all people with profound physical and other difficulties and they need to be looked after. They could be accommodated on the vacant site of St. Paul's, which is a matter I will come back to with the Minister on another day.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge the Deputy's congratulations to the Department. Some of the new schools are extraordinary quality environments for learning and it is great to be in a position to fund them. I presume the architectural design of the schools is well advanced and it may be too late to pass on the Deputy's suggestion that they should be open to new expansion. Nevertheless, I will alert the building unit to the Deputy's concern. I assure him that we are very committed to maintaining the momentum behind this. We secured some additional funding in this and last years' budgets which recognises the pressures there are in areas like Portlaoise. We are determined to meet those.