Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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My question relates to Clonturk Community College on the Swords Road in Dublin 9. To give some background, this is a fantastic school which opened in 2016. In the short intervening period it has grown to 920 pupils and by next September, just eight years after opening, it will be a 1,000-pupil school. It is a great credit to the principal, the school staff and the entire school community that it is in such high demand. Indeed, it has been oversubscribed by about 2.5 times its intake capacity every year for the last number of years.

My question today relates to the master plan and the progress on a new school building for Clonturk Community College. Since 2020 there have been discussions between the Department of Education and the school about a new school building. A master plan was promised but three years on, there is still no sign of that plan from the Department. We have had announcements from the Department about the new school campus which is going to take in four schools in the area. That will all be brilliant when it is done but I must convey to the Minister of State that there is a growing frustration on the part of parents, the school management in particular, and the school community because of the growing logistical headaches they have to face because of the delays in making proper provision for the school.

The current school building was constructed in 1967. There are inadequate bathroom facilities and no indoor PE facilities. There is a substantial number of students who have additional needs but there are no proper facilities to meet those needs. There is no wheelchair access on site, no special classes and no rooms for the delivery of resource tuition. Everyone understands that we need to get this new campus right but I must ask about the Department's strategy with regard to this school. There has been a continuous delay in meeting the accommodation needs of the school. When the school has made applications, year after year, to try to accommodate its growing student population there have been delays, so much so that the transition year students actually had to spend last year up the road in a local GAA hall. That is not good enough for anybody in this country. The promised prefabs did arrive but they were a year late. It is this snail's pace response that very much characterises so much of the Department's approach to the project.

After the initial discussions in 2020, it took until February 2022 for the Minister for Education to commit to a master plan. Twenty months later, after all of the photos and announcements, the board of management was finally shown the design team brief but it has no dates for when the tender will open and the team will be appointed or when the school building project will start moving. There has been a lot of publicity this year surrounding school projects and the delays and hold ups because of a row between the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and the Department of Education.We need to hear from the Minister of State that the master plan will be complete and the tender will go out by the end of this year, the design team will be in place and that, effectively, there are firm dates for the school community in looking forward to their new school building. At the moment, they have a public road going through their school that needs to access the farm behind the school. As I said, there is substandard accommodation for those with additional needs and no proper sports or PE facilities. We need to see that put right. I look forward to the Minister of State’s response.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it lets me have the opportunity to provide an update to the Seanad on the current position relating to the provision of a new school building for Clonturk Community College. Clonturk Community College is a multidenominational school under the patronage of City of Dublin Education and Training Board, ETB. It was established in September 2016 as a start-up second level school by City of Dublin Education and Training Board with Educate Together as a trustee partner. The school was developed to meet the needs of a growing population in the area and the demand for a multidenominational second-level school.

A memorandum of understanding between the Department of Education and City of Dublin ETB was finalised in March 2022. The memorandum of understanding sets out an ambitious agreement between the two, which delivers strategic benefits across the schools and further education and training sectors by maximising the value of properties across north Dublin city.

Under the proposed agreement, City of Dublin ETB will take a long-term lease over the Cathal Brugha Street-Marlborough Street property and will consolidate some of its further education training provision there, including provision currently made at Killester College of Further Education and Marino College of Further Education.

In return, the Department will take reciprocal long-term leases over City of Dublin Education and Training Board properties and deliver two 1,000 pupil post-primary school buildings plus accommodation, including six classrooms for children with special educational needs, at Whitehall for CIonturk Community College and Ellenfield Community College. It will deliver two eight-classroom primary schools plus accommodation for children with special educational needs at Gaelscoil Áine in Whitehall and Killester Raheny Clontarf Educate Together National School at the Killester site.

The major campus project on the current Clonturk Community College site in Whitehall will deliver two new 1,000 pupil post-primary school buildings for Clonturk and Ellenfield as well as a new eight-classroom primary school for Gaelscoil Áine. Both post-primary schools will provide approximately 1,200 additional co-educational, multidenominational post-primary school places in north Dublin city.

The project will be delivered under the Department's accelerated delivery of architectural planning and tendering, ADAPT, programme, which uses a professional external project manager to co-ordinate and drive the design team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of architectural planning to tender and construction. The campus project is in early architectural planning, which involves site surveys, school design stages and the preparation of statutory applications.

The programme manager for this programme was appointed in Q3 2023 and it is anticipated that the tender process for multidisciplinary design team consultants will start in Q1 2024 and complete in Q2 2024, subject to no issues arising. As with all school building projects, the exact timeframe for delivery of the permanent accommodation will be dependent on securing the grant of planning permission.

Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State. In particular, there are dates in his response that are to be welcomed in terms of the tender process for the design team in Q1 of 2024. My experience with other schools has been that following the appointment of the design team, we do not see fixed dates set down by the Department, or there is a reluctance by the Department to set down fixed dates as to when it needs to report back and when planning should commence. I really urge the Minister of State because political priority has to be given to ensure that this school campus is developed as soon as possible. Scoil Áine, for instance, is currently in temporary accommodation. The Department has to pay out money year after year for that temporary accommodation. There is a question about the efficiency of the Department's own resources, but that school also has the uncertainty of not knowing where it is going to be year after year and when the staff and pupils are going to move into their new school building. I ask for dates post the appointment of the design team. This is critical in ensuring that the project is delivered in the timely manner.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I will raise those points with the Department. Indeed, the Department will continue to keep the patron and the school updated as the project progresses and with regard to interim accommodation pending delivery of the permanent school building.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking all four Commencement matters this morning. We know he is very busy.