Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I thank her for taking this matter on the Adjournment. This deals with the potential provision of a new school building for the Educate Together multi-denominational school located at Kilcolgan, County Galway. I have been contacted by a number of parents of children attending the school, who want to know the Department's plans to provide a new school building. I am aware planning permission has been granted for a permanent structure in a site in Kilcolgan but, given that the Department has set out its five-year capital building plan for schools throughout Ireland, I assume it is plausible to believe this project will not go ahead. In the absence of planning permission being granted for a new school with a temporary structure in the townland, it is clear that Educate Together finds itself in a lacuna. The hopes of the new school building are conditional on planning permission being granted at the desired site for a temporary structure. It is plausible to assume a significant time period must pass before it gets to the planning process.

In the circumstances, I ask the Minister of State to outline the current situation and the possibility of capital funding for the development of a new temporary, modular-type multi-denominational primary school at Kilcolgan and the prospect of any such school receiving funding in the coming years, given that the current school urgently needs new premises. Can the Minister of State indicate a timeframe if the Department is mindful of providing funds to the school?