Noel O'Donovan (Fine Gael)

I was enjoying my game of waving across the Chamber to the students. They are very welcome. I hope they enjoy their day.

I congratulate the Minister of State on his recent appointment. It is my first opportunity to do so here in the Chamber. As always, it is an honour to be in his presence. He is a man who has weathered many storms in political life and had sunny days as well. The way he conducts his business across the House and across the party is a lesson for us all. I congratulate him, his family and his supporters at home.

This matter relates to the urgent need for progress on the long-awaited school building at Sacred Heart Secondary School in Clonakilty.It has been dragging on for far too long. The situation on the ground has reached the point where health and safety concerns cannot be ignored any longer. Sacred Heart Secondary School, Clonakilty, is a high-achieving all-girls school that has been at the heart of education in west Cork since 1941. With 544 students, it continues to excel academically, culturally and socially. Recently, I welcomed a group of girls from the school to Leinster House to present to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Martin Heydon, their project as one of the five groups of national finalists in the Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition. The school is delivering on many levels other than the academic level and it continues to excel every day.

Despite the exceptional efforts of the school community, those in the school are operating in conditions that are simply not good enough. The school has been seeking building works for 16 years. There have been 16 years of waiting, meetings, submitting documents and seeking progress. The project was approved in principle for stage 2a. Additional information has been submitted by the design team, but, to date, the school has received no timeline and no indication as to when the project will move to the next phase.

Following my recent visit to the school, I have been deeply concerned about what I saw. The old convent building, where progress has already been delayed because of the presence of bats, is now leaking again at the roof. Pigeons have re-entered part of the structure despite previous works. These are not minor issues; this is a building that is deteriorating rapidly. More worrying still is the former boarding house. The building has been assessed as being in poor condition, yet it is used every day by students and staff because there is nowhere else for them to go. From a health and safety point of view, this is not acceptable in 2025.

The technology room, an extremely popular and vital subject area, now has visible dry rot. Detailed refurbishment plans and costings were submitted to the Department some time ago but there has been no response. School management fears that the room will soon be deemed unsafe and unsuitable. If that happens, students will lose access to key curricular facilities. Even more worrying, there is a growing rodent problem in parts of the building. Pest-control contractors have raised serious concerns that parts of the old convent building may now be acting as a breeding ground for rats. This requires immediate intervention. The school should be focusing on supporting learning, not on trying to keep ahead of leaks, dry rot and rodents.

The situation is no longer just about long-term planning and capital investment, it is also about safety, including the safety of students, teachers and everyone working in the school. The school’s management is seeking clarity on several key points. I want to put these formally on the record of the House. The management want: a definitive timeframe for progressing the project to stage 2a; clear phasing information for the full project so the school knows what change to expect and when to expect it; urgent enabling works, particularly for the boarding house and the technology room; a response to the submitted refurbishment plans for the technology room; and immediate action to address the structural deterioration, pest issues and leaks in the convent building.

The school community understands the complexities involved, but after 16 years the level of frustration is entirely understandable. Sacred Heart is a thriving, dynamic school doing everything asked of it and it deserves facilities that reflect the quality of education it provides. I ask today for a clear update on the status and clarity on when stage 2a will commence.

On its website, the school has a quote attributed to W.B. Yeats, “Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.” The school’s development and construction works certainly need to have a fire lit under them. The students and staff of Sacred Heart Secondary School deserve a safe, modern learning environment. They deserve certainty and action.

I thank the Minister of State for being here.