Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I have a very specific question for the Minister of State. I hope to hear good news. Chuaigh mé chuig Gaelscoil Uí Earcáin i bhFionnghlas an mhí seo caite. Is scoil iontach í le hiarscoláirí agus múinteoirí iontacha. The school is doing a great job in a very poor building. Schools are often very slow to talk about the failings of their premises because they want to project the best possible impression. They want to attract children and they want parents to have confidence in the school. Before I say anything else, I will say that I have full confidence in the teachers and pupils of Gaelscoil Uí Earcáin. What is letting them down is the Department of Education not providing for the building they are in. The school is the former De La Salle school. It is a school I know quite a lot about. I attended it myself and my grandfather was on the committee that raised the funds to establish the school along with the second level school that was established when free education was introduced in Ireland.

The Minister of State might be surprised, as I was, that the windows are the same as those my grandfather fundraised for. They are wooden windows. Where there are holes in those windows, they are covered with cardboard. Where they are not covered in cardboard, they are covered in bits of plywood. Walking around the edge of the building, we would think it is an abandoned site that the Minister might build houses on. Instead, every day, children go in and out of the school and do a great job learning our national language and getting a great education. The Minister for Education has given me an update in recent months by way of parliamentary questions that this school is part of the accelerated delivery of architectural planning and tendering, ADAPT, programme and that a design team will be appointed for a 16-classroom extension and for two special education needs, SEN, classrooms, which I know the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will be very pleased about as well.

The school, though, is still unsure where it is on the project timeline. It has very little confidence after having waited many years. Any additional information the Minister of State can provide us with would be very welcome indeed. The classrooms are old and do not have toilets. The logical place to put such toilets would be where the windows are failing. We could probably get money to put in new windows, but we would end up ripping them out in a year or two to allow the toilet extensions to be put in. What is required here is a proper new school, as promised.

I believe in the necessity of dealing with embodied carbon and retaining as many of our buildings as possible, and big chunks of this building could be saved, repurposed and reused. It is regrettable that a Deputy must come before this House to talk about the arrangements of toilets in a school. Our national Parliament should not be dealing with these issues. I do this, however, out of a sense of frustration that we have not been able to progress this issue any further. I hope the Minister of State is as committed as I am to the progression of this school. I also hope that we can get good news for a great school and, as I said, its great pupils as well.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The Deputy has been working on it for some time. I am providing a response outlining to the House the major building project that will be undertaken at Gaelscoil Uí Earcáin, and also recent interactions between the school, its patron body and the Department of Education on the current condition of the existing school building.

The school currently occupies a building constructed during the 1950s, over two storeys, on its site at Glasanaon Road and the building fabric and finishes are typical of a building of that type and age. Under the Department's emergency works scheme, refurbishment works to the boys' toilet areas were carried out in 2021 and a tender report for works to the girls' toilet areas is awaited. The Department of Education recently approved funding to provide interim accommodation on the school site to facilitate the establishment of a special class for the 2022-23 academic year.

A Department architect visited the school earlier this year and advised the school authorities to make the appropriate applications for necessary emergency works. The Department has assisted the school in appointing a building surveyor to carry out a survey in support of that emergency works application. The application has not yet been submitted to the Department of Education. In a meeting earlier this week with the school's patron, the Department officials were further apprised of the current conditions in the building. At that meeting, the Department officials agreed with the patron that there is a need for further maintenance and to provide additional accommodation for special needs pupils in the coming months.

A major building project to provide new suitable accommodation for Gaelscoil Uí Earcáin is included in the Department's construction programme, which is being delivered under the national development plan, NDP, as part of the Project Ireland 2040 framework. As per the brief formulation document to be supplied to the incoming design team, the options of an extension-refurbishment of the existing or, alternatively, a new school building for Gaelscoil Uí Earcáin and the demolition of the existing school building will be fully considered by the school and its design team at stage 1 of the architectural planning process.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for acknowledging that I have raised this issue. I do not need to come before the House to talk to the Minister for Education because I get the opportunity to do so every week at our parliamentary party meeting. I am sending the message here to the officials in the Department of Education as well and to those people in the school building unit that Gaelscoil Uí Earcáin cannot wait any longer. We have a principal here listening to the response from the Minister of State as we speak. She kindly sent me the reply I could read out on her behalf. She is basically saying that she acknowledges what we have done and the progress made. The school, though, will not last the five years that we expect the ADAPT programme will take. We need to accelerate this process, therefore, as quickly as possible. We must ensure we are not wasting public money and spending emergency works funds now only to subsequently have to pull out stuff we have just put in. The principal in this school has been extremely diligent in how she has approached this project and who has told the State how it can save money, get new SEN classes and improve the facilities in the school.

I want the people in the building unit to listen to the principal and teachers in this school and to respond to them by telling them how long this endeavour is going to take, the process involved and by confirming that guidance will be provided through this undertaking step-by-step. I acknowledge the progress made to date, but we need to do more. I hope the Minister of State will take this message back to the Government. I know he will.

I am fundamentally committed to increasing the number of SEN places across the whole of Finglas, Santry, Ballymun and Glasnevin. I acknowledge the principals who have opened autistic spectrum disorder, ASD, classes. This is a huge improvement. Education must be for everybody. Principals can only do this, however, if they are not fighting fires on every other front. While Gaelscoil Uí Earcáin is doing a great job, it is fighting these fires.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising this very important matter. I confirm that the Department of Education is aware of the current building conditions and that Department officials will assist and advise the school authorities in maintaining the current school premises in advance of the delivery of the major building project. The Department will shortly advise the school authorities of further developments in respect of the appointment of the design team, which it is anticipated will be completed in quarter 2 of 2023. The Department is committed to progressing the major building project for the Gaelscoil and to assisting the school to maintain and expand upon its existing accommodation pending the delivery of the new accommodation.