Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, for coming to the Chamber once again to answer my questions about yet another school in Swords that urgently needs explanations from his Department. This week, I am referring to St Finian's community college in Swords and, as I explained to him last week, Swords has a population of approximately 45,000 and is the largest town in Ireland. St. Finian's community college has been in the town for more than 60 years and it has more than 660 pupils and a large teaching population. It also has DEIS status. A project to extend and refurbish the school was initiated in 2010 and, after a few issues were sorted out, planning permission was granted in 2015. It was expected that the work would go to tender and commence shortly thereafter but, without explanation, it was shelved and the school has remained in that position ever since.

The school is in a serious state of disrepair and urgently needs attention. It is overcrowded as there is serious pressure on places for both primary and secondary schools in Swords. There are serious health and safety conditions now in the school. There are classrooms without windows. There are leaking windows, which have damaged the children's work. There are problems with ventilation. Particularly worrying is that there are classrooms without access to fire exits. There is no WiFi, which hinders learning in the modern era. There is vegetation growing inside the classrooms and I have a photograph of that which I am going to give to the Minister of State. This is what the students, parents and teachers in the community college are putting up with. That is absolutely outrageous. I do not know if the Minister of State can see it from where he is so I will give him the photograph.

This is completely unacceptable. It is disrespectful to the hard-working teachers and pupils and the parents who send their children to the school with the best of intentions and who want them to get the best education they can to reach their full potential. They cannot do so when this chronic situation is allowed to continue. This needs urgent attention. This planning application will expire next year if it is not acted on. That is serious and would set back the entire project. We need urgent answers and, more important, action.