Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Cosgrove for raising this important project. This is the only Gaelscoil in County Sligo. These are projects that should absolutely be supported, nourished and given every bit of support, both financial and leadership-wise, to ensure they get done. I appreciate and feel for the principal, who is obviously the person who has championed this for many years. I am lucky because in County Monaghan where we have four Gaelscoileanna, but they are not without their challenges in terms of getting them across the line and getting boots on the ground. It is important for Gaelscoil Chnoc na Ré in Sligo.

I thank Senator Cosgrove for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, who cannot be with us today, to outline to the Seanad the current position in relation to the major building project for Gaelscoil Chnoc na Ré, Sligo. This project is included in the Department of Education and Youth’s construction programme, which will be delivered under the national development plan as part of the Project Ireland 2040 framework. The brief for this project is the development on a greenfield site of a new 12-classroom primary school with additional classrooms for pupils with special additional needs. The major building project is currently at stage 2A of architectural planning, developed design, where the preferred agreed design option can be developed to a stage where the project is fully costed and planned and the scheme can be prepared to lodge for statutory approvals with the local authority. The Senator went through a very detailed summary of the history of all the various stages, so I am sure none of this is new to her. The Department of Education and Youth has reviewed the stage 2A submission from the design team. The stage 2A stakeholders meeting was held on 2 July 2025, with representatives from the school authorities, the design team and the Department and the project manager in attendance. The meeting concluded with a request for the design team to submit a stage 2A addendum report addressing issues raised by the Department at the meeting. That report was received recently and is currently being reviewed by the Department. Upon review of the report, the Department will advise all stakeholders regarding the further progression of the project.

In July, the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026 to 2030 under the national development plan. As part of this allocation, the Department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs.

The approach to rolling out large-scale projects and additional school accommodation scheme projects will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and to provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project roll-out over the course of the period 2026 to 2030 to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs. It is planned that circa 80 school building projects will progress to construction across 2026 and 2027 as part of a two-year rolling programme. Considering what the Senator has said, and as this is the only Gaelscoil in Sligo, it surely must be given priority.