Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Balla Secondary School has made an application under the grant aid for major capital works. There has been substantial growth in student numbers from 222 six years ago to the current enrolment of 421, with more than 40 staff. Enrolment is expected to increase to more than 500 students. Balla is located eight miles from Castlebar. It is a commuter town from Castlebar, Ballinrobe and Claremorris. The current school building consists of a number of blocks. There is an estate block that was built in the 1800s and is not fit for purpose. A block was built in the 1960s, a block built in the 1980s, a sports hall built in the 1980s, a small extension built in 2007 and an autism spectrum disorder, ASD, two-classroom block currently near completion. The school has never been refurbished. It is based on a 16-acre site. The extension is required to accommodate new art, home economic, technology, construction, woodwork and technical graphic area. This would allow some of the existing accommodation to be refurbished to facilitate a music room and a dining room. There are currently no dining facilities on-site. Also, the existing sports hall has no gym, no toilets and no ladies changing area. It requires an extension to facilitate the leaving certificate physical education curriculum.

Extensive refurbishment is required internally and externally. The essential internal upgrade refurbishment is required to set up a new art, home economic, technical graphic demonstration room and science laboratory. A number of years ago, this school was under a bit of difficulty. A new principal came in and a new board of management. The school will have more than 500 students next year and is in need of a new school extension. Tonight I plead with the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, to go back to his colleague to make sure that the school gets the extension that it needs. Some of these buildings go back to the 1800s. The school has fantastic staff. It is a fantastic school with fantastic teachers. Now with new pupils coming in, the numbers will be over 500 next year. I hope that it will get a good result from the Department and from the Minister as quickly as possible.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. It gives me the opportunity to set out for the House the position with regard to the status of the application for additional school accommodation made by Balla Secondary School, County Mayo. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Norma Foley.

Balla Secondary School is a mixed school under the patronage of the Archbishop of Tuam. In the 2022-23 school year, it had a total enrolment of 422 pupils. The Department’s planning and building unit received an application for capital works from the school in question. The school applied for a substantial level of new accommodation, including specialist subject accommodation, as well as seeking significant refurbishment works both internally and externally.

The Department of Education has been progressing its work programme and priorities for 2023. Key priorities in this regard including continuing strong delivery to support the operation of the school system with particular regard to planning ahead for the 2023-24 school year and beyond.

The application from Balla Secondary School is being assessed under the Department’s additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme to consider its eligibility for capital funding. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom accommodation and accommodation for students with special educational needs is available to cater for students enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation.

Officials in the Department are currently assessing the accommodation needs of the school in the context of both current and projected enrolments. As part of this, officials are considering the wider medium to long-term demographic needs of the school planning area, to which the Deputy has also referred. This assessment will reflect the extent of accommodation currently at the school, any deficit relative to current or projected enrolment, the timing and duration of any additional accommodation need, and the overall climate action objectives. Officials from the Department of Education will be in touch with the school authorities directly as soon as the assessment process has been completed.

In the context of Project Ireland 2040, which the Deputy is familiar with, the education sector will receive a total of approximately €4.4 billion in capital investment over the period from 2021 to 2025. There will be a rolling five-year funding envelope, which will be updated for the period 2026 to 2030, within the Government’s overall national development plan, NDP, funding envelope of €136 billion in Exchequer capital that will facilitate building a modern and sustainable school infrastructure. This significant investment allows us to move forward with certainty on our ambitious plans and deliver high quality building projects, with a real focus on sustainability, for school communities across Ireland.

I acknowledge the Deputy's own contribution and advocacy for the school, and I will fully reflect that to the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. There is no better person in Mayo than Deputy Ring to strongly advocate for a school. I know this well from going through the community in Balla.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. I ask the Minister of State to talk with the Minister for Education, and I will talk with her myself at the vote tomorrow night. Once again, I just want to emphasise that these boys and girls are at their best stages of life. To have to work at a facility like this is not fair to the teachers, it is not fair to the staff and it is not fair to the board of management. Even now, there are roof sections that are leaking, there are no proper changing rooms and there are no proper sporting facilities.

These are all facilities the school had built in the 1980s. The building itself goes back to the 1800s. This building needs a refurbishment. We need modern schools. A great deal of money has been put into education by this Government, the previous one and earlier governments. This school, in particular, has now built up a fantastic student base. There is a fantastic community spirit in Balla. It has been one of the best towns in County Mayo over the past number of years because they have pulled together as a community. They have built up the town and the different sporting organisations and the one thing that is lacking now is school facilities. I am calling on the Minister and the Department to immediately do whatever has to be done to get these new facilities put in place. All they are looking for is a refurbishment to modernise the school.

The principal came in a number of years ago when the school was in great difficulty because people were not seeing it as a modern facility. People want a modern facility now. The school has won the pupils back, has won the parents back and has won the catchment areas back. In fact, the school is now growing so fast that it has a problem. This is why I want to see something done for this school immediately. The principal has done a superb job, as have the 42 staff there who have all worked well with Fr. Carney, who is the local parish priest. He has also done a tremendous job. There is a great community spirit in the town. I believe it deserves its school. I know that the Minister and the Department will not be found wanting because it is a school that is progressing. It is great to see the numbers because a number of years ago there were worries about whether the school would survive. The numbers were dropping but now the numbers are increasing in all of the catchment area. People are also coming in from outside of the catchment area now because the school has got such a great reputation. What is needed now is the facility. I thank the Minister of State.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue regarding the school's application and I appreciate his remarks. As I have said, my officials in the Department are working to assess the accommodation needs of the school under my Department’s capital scheme and will be in touch with the school authorities directly as soon as possible. This assessment will consider the current and projected enrolment at the school and will focus on providing any required additional capacity to meet the needs for mainstream accommodation and for students with special educational needs.

The significant capital envelope being made available by the Department of Education will be utilised to build a modern and sustainable school infrastructure to meet the needs of the school community in Balla. I will re-emphasise and commend what the Deputy has just said in respect of the community spirit. I am familiar with Balla in respect of sport and education, among many areas, and the work of the leaders in the school community who have re-energised and rebuilt the impetus that has driven that enrolment demand. I will fully reflect what the Deputy has said this evening and the need to make progress with this application with my senior colleague, the Minister, Deputy Foley. I thank the Deputy for his advocacy on this issue.