Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, and thank him for giving his time.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here today which is much appreciated.

My Commencement matter relates to Kilsheelan National School, which is a wonderful community school in a small village just outside Clonmel. People will be very familiar with Kilsheelan which is a previous winner of the Tidy Towns and comes very close to winning most years. It is a wonderful village right on the Suir Blueway between Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir. The school has more than 100 pupils with five teachers including a teaching principal, two special educational teachers, one shared teacher, one special needs assistant, SNA, one secretary and a cleaner and caretaker. The principal, Kevin Prendergast, has been doing incredible work in recent years in trying to modernise the school to the standards that we now expect from a top-class primary school. He has been fully supported by the wonderful board of management led by Seán Connolly.

This school was built in 1960 and had some additional building works in the 1980s. Essentially, since the 1980s there have been no improvements of any major scale. For the past 20 years two of its classrooms have been prefab classrooms. In 2020 it submitted an application to turn those two prefab classrooms into two mainstream classrooms with an additional special educational classroom. There have obviously been hold-ups owing to the Covid pandemic and, as with every project in the country, there has been a massive increase in costs. I am really happy that the Commencement matter has been taken today.

The school has been going through a tender process which was due to finish about two weeks ago but was actually extended until today, 20 June. The school will submit a tendering report to the Department of Education. While it cannot be done today, once that tendering process is put through by the principal in the board of management of Kilsheelan National School, my request is that the Department make a decision on that as quickly as possible. The conditions in the prefabs which have been there for 20 years are extremely poor. The prefabs have metal roofs and are poorly insulated. During the winter months children often complain of being cold. Teachers often have to do walks just to keep people warm. The cost of heating the place is fairly significant and much higher than most schools.All the principal and the board of management want to do for the community in Kilsheelan and the hinterland is to create and modernise a school to the standard we expect from all new schools that are built by the Minister of State's Department. It was only a couple of weeks ago the Taoiseach came to open a massive new school in Cahir. The classrooms in that school are incredible. All we want to do, and I know it is all the Minister of State and the Government want to do, is to give that to every child in the country. The principal, Mr. Kevin Prendergast, and his board of management want to do that. It has been approved by the Minister and the Department, which is important. They also want to ensure there are no hold-ups along the way.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a chur ar an gclár oibre. It gives me the opportunity to update the House on the current position regarding the new building project for Kilsheelan National School, County Tipperary. It is a co-educational primary school and enrolment for the school in September 2022 was 96 pupils, of whom 56 were boys and 40 were girls.

I am pleased to advise the House, as the Senator has acknowledged, that approval was granted to the school authority for funding under the additional school accommodation scheme to build two mainstream classrooms with a user-assisted toilet and one special education teacher room. The project is devolved to the school authority for delivery. The school appointed a design team to progress the project through the various stages of architectural design and delivery. The Department approved the school authority to tender for the delivery of the project in the second quarter of 2022. The school authority must now submit an architectural stage 3 tender report in line with the Department’s requirements for approval to start construction. The Senator has referenced where the project is at. Officials in my Department were told by the principal what the Senator has told the House, that is, the project has recently been put out for tender. Once the stage 3 tender report has been received by the Department, it will be reviewed by officials and the school will be contacted directly. That is the procedure these matters must go through but I appreciate the urgency of the situation the Senator has outlined well.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. In fairness, the principal and the school will acknowledge the good communication they have had with the Department and the Minister for Education. The real key for them is to ensure there is no hold-up and that once they send in the tender report, which the principal has said he will be doing following the end of the process today, things will move forward as quickly as possible. A principal and board of management get asked about these matters by parents all the time. When it is announced that a school building is being extended or new classrooms are being put in, the principal and board of management are constantly asked when it will happen and when construction will begin. They have to answer those questions. It is important. I appreciate that the Minister of State has given the reassurance that the Department is ready to make a decision once the principal and board of management put in their report, which they will do with immediate effect. I thank the Minister of State for that reassurance.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The Senator can tell the parents that a lot is happening here. There are normal procedural matters that must be attended to between the Department and the school. Be assured that the Department is fully committed to providing extra school accommodation to Kilsheelan National School. Be further assured that the officials in our Department will continue to work with the school authorities to ensure this important project for the wider school community will be delivered as quickly as possible, as the Senator and parents wish.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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As my cousins' children attend the school in question, they will be delighted with this update from the Minister of State and the pending good news.