Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for bringing this matter to my attention. It provides me with the opportunity to clarify the current position for St. Mel's College, Longford, in respect of the additional classroom space. I am sure the school is delighted to have the Senator as an alumnus representing them in the House.

St. Mel's College is a Catholic all-boys primary school under the patronage of the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. In September 2019, the school had an enrolment of 548 pupils, and enrolments have grown in the college by more than 18% in the past five years. In June 2020, the Department received an application from the school authority of St. Mel's College for capital funding under the additional school accommodation scheme. The college has applied, as the Senator noted, for the replacement of nine prefabricated mainstream class units on site and for the refurbishment of a building dating from 1865 to provide specialist classroom space for a technical graphics room, a guidance suite, a computer room, a music room and a science laboratory.

Officials from the Department have been liaising with the school authority, seeking clarification on a number of issues that have now been agreed on. The planning and building unit within the Department deals with those clarifications. Before the assessment process can be finalised, members of the Department's technical team will have to consider whether the 1865 building is a viable option for reconfiguration. I can confirm that this assessment will be carried out as quickly as possible and the school authority will be kept informed of all developments. I note what the Senator said about the architects' report and the fact it found there were poor conditions and insulation and fire safety concerns, and that the prefabricated buildings are designed for temporary, as distinct from permanent, accommodation. I am sure that is something the Department will take into account.

Under Project Ireland 2040, the schools sector will receive a total of €8.8 billion over the period 2018 to 2027 and capital planning and budgeting is undertaken multi-annually. For the Senator's information, the key drivers of capital investment in the school sector are demographic change, alignment with housing provision and national planning at school planning area level, construction costs, catch-up to address a legacy of underinvestment, and climate action objectives, including deep energy retrofit.In addition, there are also three additional cost drivers which occurred after the original NDP capital allocation for pre-2018, namely, the school remediation programme, Covid-19 and the programme for Government.

Suffice to say, if the assessment is favourable, the school would be able to proceed to planning. We hope that will happen. The specific allocations in each area under the NDP capital allocation are closely monitored and can be adjusted from year to year to take account of project progress and other the factors.

The Department proactively manages all of its capital allocation across subheads and budget lines to advance its school building and other capital investment priorities. It is within these parameters that a building project for St. Mel's College in Longford will be progressed. The Department always has a large pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme. I hope the application for St. Mel's College will be successful and will be able to proceed to the planning stage.