Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I have received a briefing from my Department on the situation in Scoil Cholmcille. I gather that the school has a current staffing complement of one principal, 11 mainstream teaching posts, nine special education teaching posts and one shared home-school liaison post. The staffing level will remain unchanged for the next school year.

Last December, the school submitted an application for two mainstream classrooms and seven special education teaching rooms, which corresponds with the extension referred to by the Senator. The position is that the Department is assessing the application. At present, the school has 12 mainstream classroom places, two home-school liaison places and seven special education training spaces. The school appears to be deficient in special education training places but it does not immediately appear to be deficient in mainstream classroom spaces. The Department will consider the application in terms of whether the space applied for is needed. Unfortunately, we are under very severe constraints in terms of not building. I mean we must build in accordance with need, as identified, because there has been such a bulge in the population. On the other hand, the Department recognises that the layout of the school is particularly difficult.