Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber. I seek an update on the new school building for Clonturk Community College. I ask this on behalf of a frustrated school community. We understood a master plan for the campus on the Swords Road was to be ready by the first quarter of this year. That deadline has been missed. We are told by the Department a design team has yet to be appointed. That is unacceptable. This is a 1,000-pupil school that has been waiting a number of years for a plan to be put in place for the new school building. It is to be one of four new schools on that campus.

We welcome the announcement last week about An Cosán moving to that campus but while we are getting announcements, we are not getting action. The school community is getting increasingly frustrated about the impact on the school, including the lack of a proper hall. At one stage, transition years were having to go to a hall up the road separate from the school campus. There are prefabs there whose planning permission, we understand, is due to expire soon. There are concerns about having the appropriate space, particularly for those with additional needs, and resource space.

The school is thriving, in enormous demand and oversubscribed. It has done all the right things since it was set up a number of years ago but has been left waiting for its new school building. I was on the board of management five years ago and the school building was a subject of serious concern then. We have had little or no progress since then - a lot of talk and statements but no actual progress. I hope the Minister of State can provide a concrete update on timelines for Clonturk Community College and its new school building.