Ivana Bacik (Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is a matter I have raised on a number of occasions. It relates to the lack of playing field and sports facilities generally across the Dublin Bay South area, although I have asked a specific question today. There is a serious lack of publicly accessible playing fields and sports pitches in Dublin Bay South, in particular Dublin 6 and 6W.

My question relates to the allocation of funding for the construction of an AstroTurf playing pitch at Harold's Cross Educate Together Secondary School. As I said, it also relates to the broader context of the lack of playing fields more generally. I have written to the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, most recently in late April, regarding the planning application for permanent accommodation for the new Educate Together secondary school in my local area in Harold's Cross. This followed representations made to me by the school's principal, Mr. Padraig Conaty, on behalf of the board. The school has very much welcomed positive updates on the planning application for permanent accommodation but concerns remain, most notably regarding outdoor play areas.

In particular, the school community is very disappointed to learn the schedule of accommodation has no provision for an AstroTurf playing surface. This will seriously hamper the ability of the school to offer a full range of sports opportunities to children and pupils. As the Minister of State will be well aware, this development is part of a much bigger campus development, including the site acquisition and construction of the Harold's Cross Educate Together Secondary School and an Educate Together primary school. Harcourt Terrace Educate Together primary school is also located there in temporary accommodation.

As part of the overall development of what was the Greyhound Stadium in Harold's Cross, the State is committing a significant amount of funding to deliver the important project. It seems to me and to the school community that it would be a shame, therefore, if, on full development, the campus would still have no space for pupils to play Gaelic football, hurling, soccer or rugby, the four most popular team sports in Ireland for children. Given the lack of public playing fields available in the local area, the school would be very limited in what provision it can make for pupils to play, train and exercise outdoors.

We know there are costings from the Department to convert two of the basketball courts provided for into one large divisible AstroTurf playing area. However, the Department has requested that the schools would have to pay for this and this is not financially feasible.I ask the Minister of State to consider allocating funding for the AstroTurf finish and to ensure this will be done in one or two of the ball courts. This will provide greater flexibility and enhanced delivery of the curriculum. School officials tell me that at minimal additional cost they could use a dividing mesh curtain to separate and use the two ball courts simultaneously for physical education, PE, activities, outdoor lessons and so on. This would be cost-effective and is standard for many schools and sports facilities around Ireland. The AstroTurf finish, in particular, would enable the school to provide a full PE curriculum involving a full range of contact sports and individual athletic events.

The school is very concerned that without the AstroTurf finish, it will be unable to offer any team sports in a meaningful way, aside from basketball. Its athletic lessons would also be limited. It is concerned about having to rent facilities in the area, which are not readily available locally. This will have a negative impact, even if the school was able to find such facilities, because there would clearly be a great deal of time involved travelling to and from such off-site locations.

The Department has told the school it is not a feasible proposition to provide an AstroTurf finish on one or two of the ball courts. I ask the Minister of State whether it would be possible to find a way to do this that would be feasible.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I have discussed this matter with the Senator previously and I am happy to set out the position today from my perspective and the perspective of the Department and Minister.

Harold's Cross is a co-educational, second level school, which will provide 1,000 post-primary places with four classroom special education needs units to serve the two school planning areas of Dublin 6 Clonskeagh and Dublin 6 west. The school opened its doors for its first intake of pupils in September 2020 in interim accommodation on the site of the former greyhound racing stadium at Harold's Cross. This will be the permanent location of the school. The site will also form a campus accommodating the permanent school for Harold's Cross Educate Together National School, which is also currently in interim accommodation on this site.

The joint building project for both schools is currently in advanced architectural planning and I am pleased to advise the House that the planning application is being lodged with Dublin City Council this week. In advance of lodging the planning application, officials from my Department met the school's representatives on 1 April last to share the plans for their new school. The brief for the school was discussed and it was confirmed that five hard court play areas were being provided. While the standard brief for post-primary schools is six, we are pleased to say that five will be provided in this instance. The school indicated an interest in potentially converting one or two of the ball courts, as the Senator indicated, to an AstroTurf pitch as part of the upcoming project or in the future. It was confirmed that the Department would not be providing this under the building contract as it does not provide funding for AstroTurf pitches. This approach is not particular to this school but is generally the case.

In subsequent correspondence with the school and notwithstanding the question of funding, it was outlined to the school that the possible replacement of a hard play area standard finish with an AstroTurf finish on one or two of the ball courts on this site is not a feasible proposition, as such a development would reduce the area of the available hard play space on what is a constrained urban site and would provide less flexibility in terms of student use and accessibility, potentially compromising the delivery of the curriculum. The Department provides hard play areas as per the standards outlined in the schedule of accommodation insofar as this can be accommodated within the relevant site and having regard to the particular requirements of the planning authority.

By virtue of the fact that there is a scarcity of land in urban areas, it is not always possible to achieve the ideal site size for school buildings. Where some of the elements required for a school site can be provided outside the designated site area, for example, traffic management, parking and playing fields, where it is possible to provide multistorey - above two-storey - buildings and where separation areas can be reduced due to the nature of permitted development on and adjacent to the site, smaller sites can be considered. Constraints in site sizes in urban areas mean that the full suite of external accommodation may not be provided in all cases. In such circumstances, priority is given to the provision of accommodation and services specific to the pedagogical requirements of the school.

I note what the Senator said and I intend to convey her comments to the Minister. I note what she said about a divided mesh curtain being cost-effective and about play, training and exercise. The Department's perspective is that these activities can take place on the five hard play areas. As the Senator said, the State is giving a significant amount of funding to this particular school and we hope it will work out advantageously for all concerned.

Ivana Bacik (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for that very full response. I welcome the announcement she made that the planning application is to be lodged this week. As I said, I and the school have welcomed the positive updates from the Minister of State and the Minister on the planning application for permanent accommodation. That is clearly very welcome, not just for the school community but for the local community too.

It is also very welcome that an indoor sports hall and five hard court play areas will be provided and I acknowledge that. However, the lack of provision for an AstroTurf playing area will hamper the provision of a full sports curriculum. I am grateful to the Minister of State for saying she will convey to the Minister the comments I made, in particular around the provision of a mesh curtain, to explore whether there is some way of creating greater flexibility for play areas for the school. If there could be further consultation on this, that would be really welcome.

The standard brief is to provide six playing areas in a school, whereas the new school is only being provided with five. It will be located in a very constrained area where there is a serious shortage of accessible playing pitches for children and sports clubs in the area generally. I think in particular of Ranelagh Gaels, a rapidly growing local sports club which lacks any permanent home to play in. I raised this issue previously with the Minister for Defence, Deputy Simon Coveney, and the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Colm Brophy. Cathal Brugha Barracks playing fields could and should be developed further and made more accessible for local clubs to use. I thank the Minister of State for her comments and again ask her to take them back to the Minister.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for her comments, which I will convey to the Minister. As matters stand, the Department does not believe that students' enjoyment of all sports will be hampered by hard play areas.

The rationale for not allowing AstroTurf is that it is not a feasible proposition as it would reduce the area of the hard play space in what is a constrained urban site and would provide less flexibility. The Department does not provide funding for AstroTurf for any school so an exception cannot, unfortunately, be made for this school in the context of 4,000 schools across the country. To do so would set a precedent in that regard and there is only so much funding that can be made available. I am pleased that the application for planning permission from the school will proceed this week and, hopefully, that will result in a positive outcome.