Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

I too want to be associated with the expressions of sympathy on the sad passing of Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy. She was a truly inspirational figure, dedicated to helping those who were less fortunate and in need. She was compassionate and had great vision and organisational skills, as we see through Focus Ireland and the Immigrant Council of Ireland, for example. She was tireless in her quest to improve lives. She inspired many and, hopefully, her legacy will live on in others.

I also congratulate Catherine Connolly, our Oireachtas colleague, on being elected Uachtarán na hÉireann. We wish her well in her role, which I have no doubt she will carry out to an exceptionally high standard. I also commiserate with my former constituency colleague, Heather Humphreys. No election is easy, but the presidential election is particularly difficult. I wish her well in the next phase of her life. I also acknowledge President Michael D. Higgins and his wonderful contribution as the President of Ireland for the last 14 years. I wish him and his wife, Sabina, good health and happiness in their retirement.

I also congratulate the Cavan Centre, which won the youth award at this year's national lottery Good Causes Awards. It was established in 1977 and has helped over 127,000 young people and their families through outdoor education, hands-on learning and helping young people to develop life skills.In particular, those in the centre work with young people from disadvantaged areas. I congratulate them and all of the winners of the awards.

I call for a debate on the school building programme. Yesterday, I visited St. Aidan's Comprehensive School in Cootehill, County Cavan. It has been waiting four years for an extension. The extension was sanctioned in 2021 but not a block has been laid, and the population of the school continues to grow. It has got to the stage where the school as had to cap numbers and cannot take in any more students. It opened a class for autistic children this year, but that is going to be oversubscribed by next year. It is quite willing to open an additional class but does not have the space to do so. It has used one of its existing classrooms to convert it to a room that is suitable for a class this year. As a result, however, it is down a classroom and cannot accommodate all the students who want to attend the school. It is not the only school facing this dilemma. I ask that we have a debate on the extraordinary length of time the school building programme takes.

The school in question has also been told that the Department is no longer sanctioning modular builds. I want to know if that is true and, if so, why that is the case. Some of them are very high quality and are much better than the old prefabs we used to have in schools. The school would be quite happy to accept a modular unit, which would alleviate the situation with student numbers.