Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, to the House.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this matter, which is important in the Newbridge and Kildare area. I have used time here over the past two years and, prior to that, as a Member in the Dáil to raise the urgent issue of school accommodation for secondary school students in Kildare South and, in particular, in Newbridge and Kildare. I appreciate the opportunity to return to this matter again.

Some progress has been made in the provision of accommodation in that a site at the Magee Barracks in Kildare town was acquired and contracts were signed in July. I appreciate the action taken by the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, in acquiring that. However, there was a 100% commitment that modular accommodation would be available this time next year, which is next September 2023, in order to have an intake into first year. I want 100% reassurance that this remains the case. We need to have a better co-ordinated approach to allocating secondary school places.

I am dealing currently with two families whose children still do not have places. This is the third week of secondary school and they still do not have places. I have been speaking to the educational welfare officer attached to Tusla and, despite all help and co-operation on that level, they are at a complete loss as to what to do. Only at this point, which is three weeks in, are they at the stage of being able to offer nine hours of home tuition, until a place comes up. That is simply not good enough because young people lose out so much. We talk about all the extra things that we need to do within the education system, but if a young person does not have a place in a school, that is a crisis. That is what we are looking at now. In the next few weeks, primary schools and secondary schools in the Newbridge-Kildare area will be addressing enrolments starting September 2023. They are at a complete loss because there are rumours abounding that the modular accommodation will not be in place by next September. I, therefore, want absolute clarity and commitment in reply to this. It is difficult enough for the feeder schools within Newbridge and Kildare but there are outlying, smaller primary schools, for example, Scoil Bhríde Milltown, which is not a feeder school for any secondary school. That is a further complication for them. The population in both towns and in the smaller towns nearby is growing. We have housing estates but we do not have the infrastructure to deal with them. We have an issue in relation to school places.It is bad enough this year but it will get worse next year, so we have to be able to match that. As I mentioned, we see a record number of houses being constructed and that will bring a very welcome boost to our local economies. We want to see homes for people, but I have been raising this red flag for about seven years now. The rate of growth is far outpacing our infrastructural advancement since then. Resources are maxed out. We have to be able to give a 100% guarantee to parents that their children will have a place in September next year. We must be able to give a guarantee that those who are without a place now will be able to get it very soon. I look forward to the Minister of State's response and her commitment that we will be able to move forward.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator O'Loughlin for raising this issue. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of my colleague the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, who is regrettably unavailable. I thank the Senator for giving me an opportunity to provide an update on the current status of the construction of a new school building for Curragh Community College and the provision of interim accommodation for the 2023-24 academic year. Curragh Community College is a multidenominational, co-educational school under the patronage of Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, ETB, with an enrolment of 159 pupils for the 2021-22 school year. A new site is required to construct the replacement school building. Following an extensive site identification, assessment and negotiation process, the Department of Education has acquired a new site at Magee Barracks in Kildare town, subject to planning permission, to provide a replacement and expanded school for Curragh Community College. The new school will have capacity for 1,000 pupils as well as accommodation for special classes. The new school will cater for the increased demographic growth at post-primary level due to occur in the Kildare South region over the coming years, the majority of which is projected to occur in Kildare town.

The location of an 8 acre greenfield site is next to two existing primary schools - Kildare Town Educate Together National School and Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha, within the grounds of the former Magee Barracks in Kildare town. The development of the post-primary school on this site will enhance the education facilities available to Curragh Community College and the existing primary schools in a new educational campus arrangement. The project brief for this major building project is currently being developed. It is intended that the project will be delivered under the Department of Education's accelerated delivery of architectural planning and tender, ADAPT, programme, which uses the services of a professional external project manager to co-ordinate and drive the design team to achieve the best possible timeframe to progress this project through the stages of architectural planning.

The tender process to appoint a project manager has been completed. The project manager is currently arranging site visits arid the procurement of site surveys for all projects on this ADAPT programme, including for this site in Kildare. The tender competition for the appointment of design teams for the first tranche of school building projects on the ADAPT programme will shortly be commenced by the project manager. The Department of Education will keep the patron, Kildare and Wicklow ETB, informed in relation to the ADAPT programme and the appointment of the design team and further progression through the stages of architectural planning for this major school building project. The Department of Education is also currently in discussion with the patron with regard to the school's interim accommodation needs for the 2023-24 academic year.

I reassure the Senator that I will raise the issues she has raised here this morning directly with the Minister, Deputy Foley. I completely understand how important it is for students and families that they have certainty around their placement and the new building that is required.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response. I appreciate that she will raise the matter directly with the Minister, Deputy Foley. I have raised it directly with her myself, and with staff in her office. Nevertheless, I am still hugely concerned. I understand that the long-term vision for the provision of additional school places is the relocation of Curragh Community College, where the principal, Nessa Doyle, is second to none, but she cannot magic places out of nowhere for next year. As it currently stands, she will only have 26 available places next year if modular buildings are not on site. There was no response in regard to the modular buildings that have been 100% committed to for September 2023. That is why I have a great concern in that regard. I appreciate that the project will be under the ADAPT programme. It is realised that it is a priority, but it is the short-term situation that I am hugely concerned about. I feel I will have no option but to bring this up again in a Commencement debate in the not-too-distant future, and to request a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Foley, and principals in the area, because it is simply not good enough that a few weeks away from the enrolment process beginning, we are still in limbo land. I still believe that is the case in spite of the response that we are there.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I hear Senator O'Loughlin's concerns, which I will be relaying to the Minister. I again thank the Senator for raising this matter and giving me an opportunity to outline the Department of Education's proposals to address a permanent and interim solution for the accommodation needs of Curragh Community School. As I said, plans are well advanced to initiate the architectural planning process for the permanent school building with the appointment of the project manager. Proposals are also being explored to address any interim accommodation requirements for September 2023. The Department of Education will continue to liaise with the patron, the Kildare and Wicklow ETB, in this regard. I will relay the concerns Senator O'Loughlin has outlined here this morning.