Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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I am disappointed by the slow development of much-needed school provision by the Government. In my constituency we have towns which are under serious pressure for mainstream school places at primary school level and it is becoming a crisis, with serious problems in Swords, Balbriggan and Donabate. Today, however, I am speaking directly to the problem of school places in one particular school. St. Michael’s House special school in Skerries is at maximum capacity in a building that is not fit for purpose. I am raising this matter today to impress on the Minister the urgent need to get the site acquisition process completed as soon as possible and for the new building for St. Michael’s House to be delivered without any further delays.

In the previous Government, of which the Minister and I were a part, and under Labour Party Ministers, we prioritised the provision of new schools in the worst of economic times. In 2015, I brought the then Minister, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, to St. Michael’s House in Skerries to see for herself the current building and how inadequate it is to meet the needs of the pupils. She recognised the need and the Department officials recognised the need but the prioritisation of the provision of new schools has been too slow.

I need a definitive answer to two questions in the Minister's response, and if they are not in his prepared response, he might please add them in advance of his reply. First, is money set aside to complete the purchase of the new site? Second, is money set aside to fund the construction of a new school building and will it go ahead without further delay once the site acquisition process has been completed?

The principal, staff and pupils and their families deserve answers to these questions. They deserve a timeline for this to happen and I hope that, in his response, the Minister will provide that.

The current building is unfit for purpose. The school has been housed there for 36 years and, unfortunately, the building is well past its use-by date. I have visited it several times. The mounting level of repairs needed just to keep the building in basic condition is financially onerous. The school received prefabs in recent years due to the poor state of the building and the benefits are acknowledged by everyone involved, but these are not long-term solutions and are merely putting the finger in the dam.

The school is at maximum capacity. There is no more space for any increase in the student body. Currently, pupils are only admitted when an existing pupil finishes his or her time at the school. With a maximum capacity of 30 pupils supported by 17 dedicated staff, the number of spaces that crops up is small. For the next academic year, there will be six spaces created by departing pupils. There are 21 applicants for these six spaces and, as such, 15 pupils and their families will be disappointed. I know some of those families personally. It is my understanding that no pupils are due to depart the following year, so no new places will be available. With a new building, St. Michael's House could increase its service provision to 92 pupils, thus trebling its current number. What a transformation that would be.

This vital service is desperately needed in north Dublin generally. From the time St. Michael's House was born in 1955, it has helped to change fundamentally how we as a country educate people with intellectual disabilities. It has been a leader in the development of community-based services for people with intellectual disabilities, providing services to 1,751 children and adults. St. Michael's House has demonstrated exceptional leadership throughout the years, but if it is to deliver its vital service, it requires assistance from the State in the form of a new building and facilities worthy of its staff and deserving of its pupils and their families. The school community needs certainty. The time for being unclear is over.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I acknowledge that the investment in school facilities has been an important feature of recent years. I assure the Deputy that we are sustaining the high level of building. Indeed, we have completed over 200 new schools, comprising more than 120,000 additional places. In terms of financial provision, almost €8.5 billion will be provided for investment in schools under the recent ten-year plan. This level of funding is unprecedented. We are committed to providing for children. Ireland is unique, in that no other European country has the same pressure of a growing school population that we do. The Deputy rightly acknowledges that meeting this increasing demand has been a challenge.

St. Michael's House special national school in Skerries was established in 1982. Enrolments are stable, with 30 pupils enrolled in the 2017-2018 school year and a staff allocation of a principal plus five special class teachers. The school is located in a rented building with temporary accommodation in Hacketstown. My Department is committed to providing a permanent accommodation solution. In that regard, a project to deliver a new school building for St. Michael's House special school on a greenfield site has been included in the Department's six-year capital programme. It is planned to provide a new building to accommodate a 14-classroom school, expandable to 16 classrooms, covering classes for pupils with mild to general learning difficulties, autistic spectrum disorder, multiple disabilities and severe to profound disabilities.

My Department is working closely with Fingal County Council in accordance with the memorandum of understanding on the identification and acquisition of a suitable site to facilitate the school buildings project. The site acquisition process for this school has been ongoing for some time. Initial efforts were focused on acquiring land in the vicinity of the school's current location, which was preferred by the school authorities. However, efforts in that regard were unsuccessful and the current site option was subsequently identified. The acquisition process was paused for some time while my Department engaged with the school authorities regarding potential alternative accommodation that was available at the time. Based on the outcome of that engagement, the site acquisition process recently restarted and negotiations with the relevant landowner are at an advanced stage. I confirm that a potential permanent site option has been identified and is being progressed. My Department, with the assistance of Fingal County Council, is engaging with the landowner. There are some clarifications required on technical issues regarding the development of the site, and this assessment process is nearing completion. Once there is agreement on the terms of the site acquisition and technical queries are clarified, it is anticipated that the conveyancing process can be advanced by the respective solicitors.

Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I have been working closely with the school in recent times, so I am aware of the various developments and reasons for delays, but I cannot emphasise strongly enough how stretched the school is. Pupils cannot take their required breaks. There are also pressures on space from a staff perspective, which has a direct effect on how well they can deliver their services to the pupils. St. Michael's House is a special school and, as such, has special requirements unlike mainstream schools, but these requirements are not so special that an inordinate delay should occur. We have acknowledged the source of some of the delays.

Will the Minister grab a hold of this issue and help get it over the line as quickly as possible? He should not be reluctant to spend public money on this service. The public in north Dublin want and value it. It would also benefit the Minister's constituents, given its location. The public in north Dublin want to see investment in this service regardless of whether they will be direct users. The Irish are a compassionate people who want to see our fellow citizens treated equally and fairly.

The staff in St. Michael's House are a credit to the teaching profession and to the public sector in general. They are being inhibited from doing their job to the best of their ability by the inadequacy of their building, but they are not the real losers. The people who lose the most are the pupils. They are not getting the facilities they deserve, facilities that would allow them to thrive and fulfil their individual potential.

We need to see progress on this as soon as possible. Will the Minister please give me direct answers in his supplementary reply? Is it the case that, once the acquisition process is completed, money will be available to finalise the purchase of the site? I understand from the Minister's reply that the acquisition process is at an advanced point, but will he make a commitment that, once it is over, he will move swiftly on delivering the building, which has been in the programme for some time? He referred to a six-year programme, but this is urgent. Not only would we be improving facilities for current students, but the potential in opening up additional places would be of tremendous value.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy that money is not a constraint on meeting this requirement. Delays can be frustrating for schools, but there are always delays in site acquisition, particularly in Dublin where site availability is scarce. It can take time. There can also be frustrations with the planning and design processes and so on.

I assure the Deputy that my Department is committed to this school. It is a priority, as the Deputy stated, and its development will provide the Department with new capacity, which will be fully utilised once made available. No effort will be spared in trying to progress the situation. It is an important project for us.