Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators Aisling Dolan and Buttimer for raising this important matter. Schools are valued in their communities and not just from an education perspective. They sustain rural populations and are often viewed as an indicator of how an area is faring. They also provide a vital link for sports and social activity.Schools play a wide role in their communities and many schools make their facilities available outside of school hours for a variety of different uses and users. Schools are often the centre of sustainable communities and there can be mutual benefits in building links with the local community. Many schools recognise this and make their facilities available outside of school hours for a variety of community and other activities.

As the Senators may be aware, the policy of the Department of Education is that school premises and facilities should be used for community and recreational purposes, where possible. In October 2017, following consultation with the relevant school authorities, the Department published the document, Guidelines on the use of School Buildings outside of School Hours. The purpose of these guidelines is to provide information for schools on the use of school buildings outside of school hours and for those schools that are considering putting such arrangements in place. Any decision to make school facilities available lies with the relevant trustees or property owners, having regard to the requirements of the school, staff and students.

I very much encourage schools to seriously consider making their facilities or premises available to the wider community if they are not already doing so. I recommend that schools study the guidance provided by the Department of Education as it provides a good framework and list of topics to be aware of when a school opens to the wider community.

As regards the CLÁR programme, it funds a range of measures to be delivered by schools and communities, including for the enhancement or development of play areas and multi-use games areas. The CLÁR programme provides funding under a number of different measures for small-scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas. Under measure 2 of CLÁR 2021, €2.3 million in funding was provided to support outdoor community recreation facilities, including playgrounds. Many of these were located on school grounds. This year's programme was launched on 24 February last with a total budget of €7 million, an increase of €1.5 million on 2021. It provides for an updated measure which will support a variety of capital interventions that contribute to community recreation facilities. It again covers playgrounds and multi-use games areas that might be located on school grounds, although it does not fund works to school buildings that are still in use as schools. The conditions attached to the CLÁR programme require that such facilities be available for wider community use. Many schools in CLÁR areas are willing to make their playground facilities available for community use and have received support under the programme on that basis. The objective is that these facilities would be available to local families and visitors to the area.

I discussed this topic in the Dáil last week and have also written to the Minister, Deputy Foley, on the issue. I will continue to work with colleagues to see how we can support schools to become accessible where required.