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

I thank Senator McDowell for the question. The Senator will be aware that in April 2018, a 600 pupil post-primary school that will act as a regional solution for the Dublin 2 and Dublin 4 school planning area was announced. In 2019, my Department acquired the former Dublin Institute of Technology Rathmines building to accommodate this post-primary school. This post-primary school was originally to open in 2021 but for various reasons, including that the additional residential development has not yet materialised, the opening has been deferred. Nevertheless, the future requirement for the school remains and the Department is currently planning for the provision of the required accommodation at this location. When the Department acquired the property, it was leased back to TU Dublin, which originally owned the building. TU Dublin vacated the building in February 2020 on its move to its new campus at Grangegorman. In February 2021, the Department entered a short-term lease with City of Dublin Education and Training Board, CDETB, for it to lease the building from February 2021 to the end of June 2021. At the time, the Department advised the CDETB that it could not commit to a longer lease as it was unclear if the building would be required to meet school needs for the 2021-2022 school year. The Department indicated that should the building not be required for use as a school for that year the Department would be open to extension of the lease for a further 12 months.

The Senator will be aware that each year my Department has to make arrangements for temporary accommodation for schools where delivery of the permanent solution for the school may not be available for the upcoming school year. A number of schools are being looked at in this regard across the south Dublin area. Following a review of school requirements for the 2021-2022 school year and the development schedule for the Harold's Cross site it was concluded that there would be insufficient room for the Harcourt Terrace school to remain on the site for the 2021-2022 school year. The Rathmines building was identified as a temporary location for the Harcourt Terrace Educate Together national school for the next number of years pending the development of their permanent at school at Harcourt Terrace. Unfortunately, no alternative suitable facilities could be identified in the area for the Harcourt Terrace Educate Together national school.

The Department reviewed the facilities in the Rathmines building to identify how best it could be used and whether it could support the co-location of a number of entities. Following this assessment, however, it was identified that the building had a number of severe limitations, in particular the limited number of toilets and the location of toilets within the building. Unfortunately, the layout of the building does not support the subdividing of the building for use by different users where there would be a need to separate those users, as would be the case if primary school-aged pupils were to share the building with adult students who would attend a college of further education. While there are a number of modular units located in a yard attached to the building, the primary school pupils would be using this yard as a play area. Again, it would not appropriate to have primary-aged pupils and adult students sharing the one area.

I note what the Senator has said about the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, visiting the building recently, and I note the Senator's proposals to the Ministers, Deputies Catherine Martin and Simon Harris. I appreciate the difficult circumstances faced by the Rathmines College of Further Education around the space available to it and the capacity it has. The Senator referred to the cramped facilities and I will bring this to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Foley, as well as the other Ministers.