Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, is welcome to the House.

John McGahon (Fine Gael)
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I raise this matter this morning after meeting Cara McAdam, who is a science teacher in De La Salle College, Dundalk, a couple of weeks ago. She showed me the science laboratory and the rest of the college. There are four laboratories, one of which is in a new part of the building. Two are in a building dating from 1978 while one of the laboratories was built in 1998. I am sure the Minister of State can agree that using science laboratories built in the 1970s and the late 1990s in 2023 is not acceptable.

There have been no upgrades to the laboratories during that time. They are very dated and in many regards are not fit for purpose. There is no safe working gas supply and no use of a fume cupboard in the chemistry laboratory. The laboratory built in 1998 is in a building with a chronic damp and mould problem. There is frequent flooding and infestations. There are about 700 pupils in the school, nearly all of whom are taking science. I saw for myself that the fume cupboard in the 1998 laboratory is positioned on the wall leading into the centre of the building, which is a violation of all health and safety standards. Fume cupboards should be on the edge of a building so that if there is an explosion, it goes outside rather than into the building. This clear violation of health and safety standards goes back to 1998.

The science laboratories are hugely outdated. We are encouraging many students at second level to look towards careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, and science is a really important part of that. The students taking science in De La Salle College, Dundalk, are simply not getting bang for their buck. They are not getting the full proper science experience because their teachers are unable to teach them in adequate classrooms.

I accept that this school will have to apply for the summer works scheme, particularly in category 5, which is funding for science laboratories, and I know this process has started. Perhaps the Minister of State will be able to give me a bit more clarity on when that summer works scheme will open, when the category 5 scheme will open and when applications can be submitted.

This is a really good example of trying to modernise our classrooms across the country. It is really not fair that students are trying to learn in classrooms that are more than 40 years old. It is not fair that teachers trying to bring their students along and teach them in an important manner have to work in these conditions.

My reason for raising this matter on the floor of the House is because in 2023, students and teachers should not be operating out of classrooms that are 40 years old. Teachers should not have to operate in such a situation and the nearly 700 students taking science in De La Salle College, Dundalk, should not have to sit in classrooms with damp and mould infestations with equipment that does not work and where health and safety requirements are not met.I accept that the funding measures will be through category 5, so I am very keen to hear a bit more detail about that, including how the school will be able to apply for that funding and how we can get these four science laboratories upgraded as quickly as possible.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator McGahon for raising the matter as it provides me with the opportunity to clarify the current position in relation to De La Salle College, Dundalk, County Louth, on behalf of Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. De La Salle College is an all-boys school under the patronage of the Le Chéile Schools Trust. The enrolment at the school in September 2022 was 704 pupils.

With regard to meeting the current and future accommodation needs of De La Salle College, the school was approved funding under the Department of Education's additional school accommodation scheme in 2018. This project will deliver two mainstream classrooms, a design and communications graphics room and two classrooms for students with special education needs. This project has been devolved to the school authority for delivery and is currently at stage 2A.

In September 2022 the Department also approved interim accommodation to facilitate the opening of a class for students with special educational needs from September 2023. A project to deliver this modular accommodation is under way in cognisance of the importance of urgently facilitating the new special class at the school. The purpose of the additional school accommodation scheme is to ensure essential teaching spaces and accommodation for students with special educational needs are available to cater for pupils enrolled each year where the need cannot be met by the school's existing accommodation. At post-primary level, this situation generally arises to cater for significantly increasing enrolments due to demographic pressures or to provide accommodation for special classes and where all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for teaching purposes.

The school has contacted the Department with respect to the provision of new benches and presses in the science laboratories. Such science laboratory refurbishment works would typically fall to be addressed under the summer works scheme. I can confirm there is no recent or current application on hand under the summer works scheme for the refurbishment of science labs at De La Salle College. In 2022, the school was approved funding under the summer works scheme to carry out a full rewiring of the school. This project is yet to commence. It is open to the school to apply for funding under future summer works schemes.

Under Project Ireland 2040, the education sector will receive a total of approximately €4.4 billion capital investment over the period 2021 to 2025. There will be a rolling five-year funding envelope which will be updated annually for the period 2026 to 2030 within the Government's overall national development plan, NDP, funding envelope of €136 billion in Exchequer capital that will facilitate building a modern and sustainable school infrastructure. This significant investment allows us to move forward with certainty on our ambitious plans and deliver high-quality building projects, with a real focus on sustainability, for school communities throughout Ireland. The strengthened focus on the refurbishment of existing school stock will have different strands and will include a deep energy retrofit programme in support of our 2030 and 2050 climate action goals.

I advise the Senator that updates in relation to all school building projects are provided on the Department's website and this is updated regularly.

John McGahon (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. As I said, this is just the start of the process of this campaign and the goal of getting these science laboratories updated. As the Minister of State has acknowledged and as I have pointed out, the way we will do this is through the summer works scheme through category 5, which is funding for science laboratories. Obviously, there will be a number of schools trying to apply for that. I would hope that, given the really severe condition of these school laboratories, which have not been updated since the 1970s and 1998, when the application does come from the De La Salle secondary school in Dundalk, the Minister and the Department would be able to look upon it favourably and in the context of the situation that nearly all of the 700 students in the school are taking science and they need the full science experience that students get at other schools in Dundalk.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for giving the opportunity to outline to the House the position in relation to De La Salle College in Dundalk. The refurbishment of science laboratories as proposed by De La Salle College is appropriate to the Department of Education's summer works scheme. The summer works scheme is the funding mechanism for dealing with the more significant improvement works that are usually carried out during school holiday periods to minimise disruption to the operation of schools. The summer works scheme operates on a multi-annual basis, and at this stage it is envisaged the summer works scheme will next be opened for new applications later in 2023 for the delivery of projects on a phased basis from 2024 onwards. Schools will be notified of the details of the summer works scheme in due course and it will be open to the school to make an application at that time.