John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to raise this matter and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, for his presence. It is very much appreciated. This Government has a very good record with regard to school construction and building, not least in my own constituency of Dublin South-West. I can point to a number of schools that have been built and completed in the lifetime of this Government. They include Kingswood Community College in Tallaght, which is a state-of-the-art community college - Sancta Maria College in Ballyroan is a denominational school, where the contractors may have run into some difficulty - and Saplings Special School, which the Department of Education has agreed to purchase on behalf of the State. There are a number of Educate Together school buildings in Citywest, Firhouse and Ballycullen, where there is a state-of-the-art temporary building housing an Educate Together post-primary school at present. New education and training board, ETB, national schools have been built in Citywest and Tallaght and there is an ETB post-primary school planned for the Citywest area. In addition, there are two brand-spanking-new Gaelscoileanna, Gaelscoil Chnoc Liamhna agus Gaelscoil na Giúise, which was built three years ago. The Government has a very good record.

What I am raising with the Minister of State today is the desire to keep that record ongoing and to raise a number of school projects that are in the pipeline and on which progress may have stalled somewhat. Boards of management and the school community are anxious to know what the state of play is with them. Those projects include Coláiste Pobail Fóla in Citywest, where a brand new building has been applied for and St. Aidan's Community School in Tallaght, which would have been one of the flagship community schools back in the 1980s but is very much in need of complete replacement. It is costing the State quite a bit, as it does with a number of other schools built in that time, just to refurbish and maintain it. The Minister, Deputy Foley, visited Tallaght Community School last year. The school thought it was getting refurbishments and renovations but, to its great surprise, the Department correctly deemed it would be much more economic to demolish the school and build a state-of-the-art school there. It is awaiting news on that. Solas Chríost National School in Belgard and Holy Family Community School in Rathcoole are waiting news about commencement of building works. St. Pius X, a junior and national school in Templeogue, in my constituency, is awaiting news of what exactly the situation is with its position on the major school works capital programme. Sancta Maria Community College is an incomplete project. There are outstanding works to be done.

In addition, if these projects commence, they will have positive implications for the provision of autism spectrum disorder places in each of the schools because the new schools, in particular, will provide additional special classes. There is quite a bit of work.

The final request, which I ask the Minister of State to bring back to the Minister on my behalf, is for the Minister to visit St. Aidan's Community School in Tallaght. It has substantial lands and some very exciting works could be done in conjunction with the Department, the local authority and the school community.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I will give this response on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, as it gives me the opportunity to provide an update to the House on the current position regarding the school building programme and a number of school building projects, which are on hold from proceeding to either tender or construction due to capital funding pressures.

The Department’s capital allocation has always been under significant pressure and it has a strong track record of fully utilising it and, in many years, requiring supplementary capital funding to deliver urgently required school building projects. Pressures on the capital allocation have been compounded since the national development plan, NDP, allocations were determined in 2021 by the impact of high construction inflation, the increasing prevalence of autism and other complex special education needs, which requires the accelerated delivery of special educational needs provision at pace and the urgent need to provide capacity for students from Ukraine and other countries under the international protection system.

The national priority within the NDP for increasing the roll-out of housing is also adding to pressures on the Department’s capital allocation, given the knock-on impact for additional school provision requirements. The Department's published NDP allocation for 2023 is €860 million. As part of its planning ahead for 2023, the Department is engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform with regard to capital funding pressures in order to continue to be able to adequately support the operation of the school system, with roll-out of school building projects to tender and construction in 2023, including the projects referenced in recent media reports.

More than 180 school building projects were delivered during 2022, which included accelerated delivery of modular accommodation to support provision for 900 pupils with special educational needs. Approximately 300 school building projects continued in construction at the start of 2023, most of which will be completed in 2023 and early 2024. They include more than 40 new school buildings, some of which the Deputy has referenced. All of these projects are helping to support the operation of our schools, are delivering to the highest standards and are very energy efficient. This strong level of delivery is a key driver of capital pressures in the Department. Some 73% of the NDP allocation for 2023 is needed to cover expenditure on contractual commitments on approximately 300 existing projects at construction carried forward from 2022. Other key achievements under the school building programme in 2022 include strategic initiatives put in place to support planning for school provision requirements and also the setting up of 16 regional education and language teams.

The Deputy can see the rest of the response. I will refer directly to the issue the Deputy raised. The current status of all school building projects, including those in Dublin South-West, is listed on a county-by-county basis on gov.ieand these lists are updated on a regular basis to reflect projects' progression through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction. If I am correct, the schools the Deputy is talking about are Coláiste Pobail Fóla, St. Aidan's Community School in Tallaght, which is a replacement school, and Tallaght Community School, which is a new school.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Correct.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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What is the school in Rathcoole?

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The school is Holy Family Community School.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Is that a primary school or a secondary school?

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is a post-primary school.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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St. Pius X-----

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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St. Pius X is a primary school.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Where is Sancta Maria College based?

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is in Rathfarnham.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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That school is incomplete. There are outstanding works.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, there are.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I will bring these to the attention of the Minister and ask that the Department gives the Deputy an update on those schools. I will also bring to the Minister's attention the Deputy's request that she visit St. Aidan's Community School. I have no doubt she would be delighted to do so.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I am very grateful for that comprehensive response. While the Department of Education website gives schools an update as to where exactly they are in the planning process, it never explains on a spreadsheet why projects may have been paused or stalled. The Minister of State outlined that, among other things, there had been budgetary pressures arising from high construction costs, inflation in construction costs and the requirement to provide school places for the influx of refugees. I absolutely support and have no issue with such provision, but it is good for these school communities to understand that this has come with a cost and has had an impact on the provision of school places. The prevalence of special needs, the increased requirement to provide for children with special needs and capital pressures in the Department also come into play. That is really useful to know.

I am also heartened to hear that there is ongoing engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. The Minister for Education mentioned this at the meeting of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party last night. My understanding is that progress on those kinds of discussions has been made and that a conclusion is imminent and may come around Easter. Perhaps the Minister of State could confirm that. I am very grateful that he will convey that message and the request to visit St. Aidan's to the Minister.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I assure Deputy Lahart that the Department and the Minister are very conscious of the need to continue to support the operation of the schools system and intend to provide clarity to individual schools on school building projects that are on hold as quickly as possible. As the Deputy noted, discussions are ongoing between the Department of Education and the Minister and the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform with regard to capital funding pressures. I expect that everything is being done to conclude those discussions and bring about certainty in respect of these school building projects. These particular financial pressures have resulted in the need for the Department of Education's planning and building unit to assess its work programme priorities for 2023 in the context of available funding. That review is ongoing, as are discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, whose enhanced title refers to its delivery of the NDP. Key priorities for the Department's work programme including continuing strong delivery to support the operation of the schools system with particular regard to planning ahead for the 2023 school year and beyond and supporting special needs provision. The Deputy highlighted six schools in his constituency in which there are current projects. As I said, I will bring these to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Foley, and ask her to respond directly with an update and to visit St. Aidan's Community School in Tallaght. The focus is now on finalising discussions between the Department of Education, the Minister and the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform so that these school building projects can continue as quickly as possible.