Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I am raising the very serious issue of St. Patrick's Primary School in Celbridge, which opened in 2008. It is housed in a prefabricated building that was only supposed to be in place for five years. Unfortunately, 18 years later, the school is still in that building. In June 2025, a report was submitted after the work had been done at the end of March. It states:

I am of the opinion that the existing building in the current condition is not fit for the purpose to operate without considerable risk to the occupants and users as a school, is unsafe and poses a serious immediate threat to the well-being, health and safety of the occupants and users.

That is how a primary school in Celbridge in which there are more than 300 students and also SNAs and teachers is described. These children are the some of the most important and most vulnerable people in our community. They deserve a much better and safer building in which to attend school. Much of what is in the report was made public on a KFM programme over the weekend. The report has also been covered in the Liffey Champion on a number of occasions in recent weeks. This is an ongoing issue.

As I said, it is 18 years since the prefabs were put in. I raised this matter with the Minister for education at a meeting on 18 June last year. I also raised it in the Dáil last October and again in January. The pictures of the classroom that I have with me were taken at the end of January. It is not a place where kids should be. There is water running down the walls. The principal and her partner had to clean the classroom after a weekend of rain at the start of January, but the situation has only been exacerbated since then. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, visited the school, and she saw the issues that exist at first hand. She has highlighted the issue, but more work needs to be done as a matter of urgency. The principal and the teachers are doing amazing work, and the school has a great community, but the parents are really concerned. We need a resolution.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to speak on this matter. The Minister of State is faced with a rare situation whereby all the TDs in the constituency are working together on it. We raised it earlier with the Secretary General of the Department of education at the Committee of Public Accounts. We know that Simon Harris and the Minister are aware of what is happening.

Deputy Neville outlined the matter in a very comprehensive manner. We need to see action on the architect's report. The evidence is no longer anecdotal. There is a real and significant health and safety concern for the children. There are issues with fire safety, the floor plate, wall retention, mould and damp, etc. Nobody should be expected to learn in such an environment. The entire school community, including the principal, the teachers, the SNAs and the secretaries, should not be expected to work in those conditions.

I join Deputies Neville, Cronin, Ó Cearúil and Lawless in commending the entire school community regarding what they have had to endure. I cannot overstate how concerned the parents are right now. We have reached the point where they are organising a meeting next week to try to progress this. They do not know what the next steps need to be, which is why they need the State to step in on an emergency basis. None of us really believes that works will suffice at this point. The Minister of State knows that for an 18-year-old modular unit with a design lifetime of five years, it is not a great solution to upgrade what is there now. We need something in the short term which will ensure that the health and safety of the staff and children is of paramount importance. We all look forward to the Minister of State's reply. He should know that he has collective support from all TDs in the constituency in the context of progressing this over the next couple of weeks. The latter is the timeline within which we need to see action.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputies Neville and Farrelly for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth. I welcome the opportunity to provide details of the interaction the Department of Education and Youth has had with St. Patrick's Primary School Celbridge in relation to the emergency works scheme and to provide an update on its capital project.

As the Deputies will be aware, the purpose of the emergency works scheme is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies or to provide funding to facilitate inclusion and access for pupils with special needs. An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, and a situation which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action. In the case of a school, the situation must be of sufficient gravity whereby, if not corrected, it would prevent the school or part of it from opening.

Following an invitation from Deputy Neville, the Minister visited the school in January. She was given a tour of the building before meeting local school leaders and the board of management. During this visit, she was advised by the school that a number of classrooms had been closed and that the building had structural defects. St. Patrick's Primary School has submitted a number of applications for funding under the emergency works scheme for life safety equipment, fabric defects and roof works. The emergency works scheme operates on the basis of a minimal scope of works required to remedy an emergency situation. On this basis, the school was advised to submit a revised scope of works with an accompanying itemised cost breakdown.

In January, the Department engaged project engineers and contractors to address the immediate issues. This facilitated the completion of initial remedial works by 5 February, which allowed for classrooms that were closed to reopen. There has been significant engagement with St. Patrick's in relation to the sequencing of works to address the outstanding issues. A written programme update was issued to the school on 9 February. A further update was provided to the school on 24 February. This programme outlined a number of actions which are planned, utilising two modular units which were provided to the school. This will facilitate the temporary decanting of students to allow classrooms works to take place. The sequencing of works is set out to maximise the mid-term break and Easter break. The Department will continue to work with the school in this regard.

In relation to capital works, a new school building for St Patrick's Primary School is part of a campus project that has been devolved for delivery under the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, as part of a bundled school building programme. The brief for the school includes the provision of 24 mainstream classrooms and four special educational needs classrooms. The project is currently at detailed design stage of the architectural process, which involves developing the designs, fully costed planning, the campus project and preparing the necessary documentation to facilitate the application for statutory approval to the local authority.

Following a request from the Minister, the Department of Education and Youth, the NDFA and the Land Development Agency recently met to discuss progress on this important project. The Minister has requested that the school be kept fully informed of that progress.

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. I just want touch on a couple of the matters. The two modular units have been set down and the children are using them. However, the units are very small and way too cramped for proper classes. Also, there are no toilets in the modular units, which are located away from the school building. That poses its own difficulties.

I was at the school yesterday morning. The scaffolding has been put up. There is no work going on and the scaffolding is blocking some of the fire exits. This emphasises the dangers and risks for the children. Obviously, I welcome the two-pronged approach being taken, particularly as we need to have the emergency works to fix the school. However, we also need the delivery of the new school building. Ultimately, a three-school campus needs to be put in place. That is a longer term solution, however. We all know that new schools are not built too quickly in this country, so we need a proper solution for these children in the immediate future.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I was somewhat concerned about the fact that the officials of the Department of Education and Youth who appeared before the committee yesterday stated that they are conducting a peer review in respect of the architect's report. In some ways, this casts a shadow what the architect has said. Ultimately, what we need to know, in very clear terms, is whether the plan that was presented to the school on Tuesday remedy what the architect outlined in terms of the immediate concerns relating to the health and safety of children and staff at the site?