Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. I know these two cases are of particular interest to her. I acknowledge that she has raised these issues consistently. To give the background as to where we are within the Department, following a demographic exercise carried out by the Department into the future need for primary and post-primary schools across the county for the period from 2019 to 2022, the requirement for a new 1000-pupil post-primary school to be established in 2019 to serve the east side of Galway city and Oranmore school planning areas as a regional solution was announced by Government, as the Senator has alluded to. In October 2018, the patronage of the new post-primary school was awarded to Educate Together. The Department has identified the eastern environs of Galway city and Oranmore as the location for the school to best serve the demographic demands of these school planning areas.

The Educate Together secondary school opened in September 2019, as the Senator outlined, in interim accommodation at Grianach House, Merlin Park, Galway city, pending delivery of its permanent accommodation. Departmental officials are working closely with officials of Galway County Council and Galway City Council under the memorandum of understanding regarding the identification and acquisition of a suitable permanent location for the school. The potential requirement for the permanent site to accommodate a temporary school while construction of the permanent building is ongoing is also being taken into consideration. A number of site options have been identified and are under active consideration. These include a zoned site. Discussions with relevant stakeholders with regard to the provision of access and services to this particular site are ongoing. Due to commercial sensitivities, it is not possible to provide further information on these options at this point. However, as soon as it is possible to do so, I will make that information available.

With regard to Cuan na Gaillimhe Community National School, the requirement for a new site for the provision of an eight-classroom primary school, extendable to 16 classrooms, with a special educational needs space for the school was established in September 2015 when it opened in temporary accommodation on a site shared with Knocknacarra Educate Together National School, which is accommodated in a permanent structure. Cuan na Gaillimhe is a multi-denominational co-educational school located in the Galway school planning area. The school opened in September 2015 under the patronage of Lifeways Ireland with an enrolment of ten pupils, which has since increased to 66. In August 2019, the patronage changed to GRETB.

A project for a new school building for Cuan na Gaillimhe is on the Department's six-year capital programme. In line with the policy on the use of State assets, the Department is seeking to maximise the use of sites in the Minister's ownership and other available properties in the ownership of State bodies. The Department also consults with local authorities, in line with the memorandum of understanding for the acquisition of school sites, to assist the Department to identify suitable sites and to seek the views of the local authority with regard to any potential site options. As the school is a community national school, of which the ETB is the patron, the site acquisition has been devolved to the ETB, which is currently working closely with the council. Discussions between the ETB and the council in respect of the acquisition of the preferred site are at an extremely advanced stage. That is the up-to-date situation from the Department's perspective.