Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State. I received a text today from the Minister's secretary to inform me the Minister would not be here tonight but she has agreed to meet me tomorrow. Otherwise I would not have taken the debate tonight without somebody from the Department being here. I want to put this on the record. When I meet the Minister tomorrow, I will be putting this matter to her face to face.

The reason I raise this issue tonight is that yesterday I went to meet the board of management and the principal after school and I was appalled to see the conditions under which the teachers, pupils and board of management must operate. It is really disgraceful. On 18 February 2022, a new school was announced for the Sacred Heart School, Westport. It was under the auspices of CEIST. We are a year on and the conditions they have to work in are unbelievable. More money has been spent on prefabs, extensions and trying to keep the school together than would have built three new schools. Officials of the Department of Education called to the school and saw what was there. They were so appalled that within a few weeks after I and other people had made strong representations, they agreed a new school would be built. Yet we are into another year. Perhaps the Minister of State will respond tonight and I thank him for coming in. What is the up-to-date position and when will we see a design team? When will we see the school being approved? When will we see work on the ground at the school?

The current enrolment of the school is 574 pupils, with 385 of them in conditions that include asbestos. There are bags under the roof to collect the asbestos that falls off. There is contaminated water. They are there with mops and buckets. There is an old engine room. The school building goes back almost 100 years. That is what the school is operating in.

To me it is not acceptable to see a Government having a surplus of almost €10 billion. We saw 58 schools taken off the list and put back onto the list again. I am putting this on the record. I made an announcement about that school on 18 February 2023 and I do not make announcements if I do not have facts. I have an email from the Department stating a new school has been approved and I want to know what is happening with that school. I want to know where we are and I do not want to be back here again because I will be raising this on the Order of Business each week until something is done about this issue.

When the Government and the Department give a commitment, there should be action. They will have seen what has happened here. We will have a court case brought by a child or a parent. There is a health and safety issue there now. We can find money for everyone around the world but we cannot build a school for 587 pupils in an advanced town such as Westport. The building has been there for I do not know how long. Extensions were added in 1968, 1978 and 1984. Further extensions were added in 2010. The girls were in an all-Ireland GAA final a few weeks ago but were beaten. They came second in an all-Ireland but they have no facilities because the prefabs are in the grounds where they used to train. That is not acceptable for the girls or for the pupils. The conditions I saw yesterday are not acceptable. I want to hear the Minister of State's reply.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ring for raising this Topical Issue matter which I am answering on behalf of the Minister for Education who is not here tonight. It gives us the opportunity to set out for the House the position with regard to the current status of the Sacred Heart School, Westport, County Mayo. The Sacred Heart School is a Mercy all-girls school under the trusteeship of CEIST, as Deputy Ring said. The school has an enrolment of 532 pupils.

With regard to the major project for the school included on the Department’s school building programme, the Minister can confirm that the school originally submitted an application under the Department’s additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme and following detailed technical reports carried out on the existing school accommodation and assessment of the future needs, the Department recommended that the optimum solution for the school is the provision of a new building for the Sacred Heart School to be provided on the existing site. It is proposed that the new school building will provide accommodation for 600 pupils and provision for pupils with special education needs. The accommodation will include state-of-the-art modern facilities, including science laboratories, construction-engineering-technology rooms, home economics rooms, arts and crafts rooms, a multimedia room, a design and communication graphics room, a library, general purpose area and a physical education, PE, hall with associated rooms. This is in addition to the generous suite of accommodation that will be provided to meet the needs of students with special educational needs.

New school buildings are designed to be welcoming, inclusive environments and the principles of universal design are embedded in all the Department’s technical guidance for building projects. The general design guidelines include guidance on the principles of universal access as part of a whole school design approach. A suite of such technical guidance documents is published on the Department's website. Additionally, technical guidance for new school buildings provides for high levels of energy efficiency.

As Deputy Ring will be aware, the school site presents certain technical challenges. Nevertheless the project brief for this key new school development is being advanced with a view to progressing the project to the architectural planning stage as soon as possible. Pending the delivery of the new school building, the Department has provided interim accommodation in 2022 to allow the school to vacate an existing building considered to be in poor condition. This interim accommodation includes eight mainstream classrooms, two science laboratories and two other specialist rooms. The Department has a strong track record of delivery of school building projects throughout 2022. Under Project Ireland 2040, the Department is investing more than €4 billion over the period 2021 to 2025.

Once the brief for the new school building for the Sacred Heart School in Westport is finalised, the Department will look to progress this project into the architectural planning process as soon as possible and there will be continued engagement with the school’s patron, CEIST, in this regard.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I will not take up the House's time as it is late at night. I welcome the development that has taken place but I want to see further action as quickly as possible. Again, I compliment the students, principal and teachers given the conditions they are working under. They are doing a fantastic job. My daughters went to that school. I am proud of the school and I will be making sure it is brought to design and brought forward as quickly as possible. I will be having discussions tomorrow with the Minister and I hope we can get something done as quickly as possible.

For the information of the Minister of State, it is a listed building. I do not know why it is listed but it is no wonder this country is the way it is if that building is listed. It has been there for a couple of hundred years but I have often seen better cowsheds. It is not good enough and I want to see the facilities up and running in that school as quickly as possible. The situation is outrageous. If the Minister of State is the town, I will bring him, along with the Office of Public Works, OPW, in to see the conditions these marvellous teachers have to work in.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ring again for raising the issue. I know he is meeting the Minister in the morning but my Department will also bring the issue to her attention due to her absence here tonight.