Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan to the House.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. Scoil an Chroí Naofa in Ballinasloe was established in 1996 with an understanding at that time from the Department of Education that there would be a new school build. Families, teaching staff and the board itself have been waiting 28 years. This is a school with more than 300 children. It is really a shocking indictment of delays in the system. We have fantastic teaching support in the school but children and teachers are freezing every winter. These buildings date back to the thirties and sixties. This is where the children are. It is a DEIS level 1 school. Since I was elected as a councillor for the Ballinasloe municipal district in 2019, and as a Senator, I have raised capacity issues for this town. My very first Commencement matter was about Scoil an Chroí Naofa. Following that Commencement matter, we had the opportunity to meet with the Department of Education and with stakeholders in Galway County Council and there was a new impetus to drive a new application which changed from the 13 classrooms to 16 classrooms for Scoil an Chroí Naofa.

I have raised this issue of school capacity in Ballinasloe on multiple occasions, even most recently in November 2023. More than 130 families who have just been allocated their new homes through the local authority but an additional 60 families from Ukraine are moving to Ballinasloe. This is since the census. I have worked with the former Minister of State in the Department of Education, Deputy Madigan, on two additional classrooms for Creagh National School, where there are 440 students and on four additional classrooms for St. Teresa's Special School. In my constituency in Roscommon-Galway there are just two special schools, of which St. Teresa's is one, which caters for a huge catchment area. I worked with Ardscoil Mhuire and the Gaelscoil with 200 pupils around accessing additional supports through DEIS funding. That meant more teachers and more SNAs on the ground. More than 1,000 children of primary school age and another 1,000 post-primary students are going to Ardscoil Mhuire and Garbally College. Once amalgamated, these two schools will become the brand new Clonfert College.

The Department of Education has indicated that this project in Scoil an Chroí Naofa is the most significant project for planned additional capacity. It will be a new 16-classroom school building that will have three classrooms for pupils with special educational needs. We have a wonderful design and proof for planning. I have seen the very basic design that went in for planning to Galway County Council but there are delays again. I am working closely with the principal Christine Connor and with the school board, including the patron Bishop Michael Duignan, but there is immense frustration with the lag here and the delays. There are obstacles to moving this project forward. It is still at design stage. It is 2024 and with each delay there is a failure to make a decision. Again, we do not have a school for children in our town.

This responsibility lies with the building section and the design team in the Department. Our school board is driving this project forward but there has been frustration at each point. On 21 September 2023, planning permission was granted by Galway County Council. On 22 March 2024, a revised design was approved by the Department of Education. On 26 April 2024, the council itself indicated approval of the design submission from the Department. The design team now has to move this project to the tender stage and from that tender stage comes the letter of acceptance and the letter of intent so that we get a budget to actually build this school. This is a DEIS level 1 school for pupils in Ballinasloe as well as children travelling from counties Galway, Roscommon, Offaly and Westmeath. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is taking this commencement on behalf of the Minister Deputy Foley, but I want to ask the Minister when this school will get built. I want a date. We have been driving this for the past four to five years, since I was elected a public representative, and still I stand here as a Senator fighting for this. I will stand here as a public representative, be it as a Senator or as TD, and I will fight for this project. I want the Minister to tell us when we will have a date, a timeline and what resources are being allocated to this project.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter. It provides me with an opportunity to outline to the Seanad the current position on the major building project for Scoil an Chroí Naofa in Ballinasloe, on behalf of the Minister for Education. I hear the frustration in the Senator's opening contribution and I acknowledge it is a long road for the school to have waited this long for this project to be developed. The major building project for Scoil an Chroí Naofa is included in the Department of Education’s construction programme, which is being delivered under the national development plan. The brief for this project is a new school building to cater for 16 mainstream classrooms plus three classrooms for children with special educational needs. The Senator will be assured that the major building project for Scoil an Chroí Naofa, Ballinasloe, is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning, stage 2(b), which includes the application for statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documents.The major building project for Scoil an Chroi Naofa, Ballinasloe, is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning. The Senator will be assured to hear that stage 2(b) includes an application for statutory approvals and preparation of tender documents. A scope change to increase the number of classrooms and proposals from the local authority to order road and access layouts at the school site, necessitated a new planning application to be submitted for the project. We appreciate that is a complex piece of work in terms of road infrastructure and increasing capacity.

The final grant of planning permission for the project, as currently designed, was received from the local authority in September 2023 and reviewed by the Department of Education. The design team must prepare and submit a full stage 2(b) submission, based on the terms of the planning permission granted in September 2023. A revised or new disability access certificate and fire safety certificate application will be required as part of this process.

Officials from the Department have provided comments to the design team to inform stage 2(b), detailed design, submission, and stage 2(b) submission will be reviewed by the Department of Education's professional and technical team upon receipt. The design team are currently reviewing the programme for the completed stage 2(b) and will inform the school authorities and the Department once it has an estimated date for submission of stage 2(b). On completion of this, a design meeting of all stakeholders will be organised. Again, I appreciate the frustration of the school board, school staff, teaching staff and principal. This is a long-standing project, but I hope that from this contribution, we make significant progress to try and get construction on-site as soon as possible.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that the Minister of State is taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Education but the Department has responsibility to the families in that school and the people of Ballinasloe. It said itself that is the most significant project the town needs. I do not see the urgency. I would like the Minister of State to ask the Department what resources are being allocated to this. What other projects are on the design team's plate? Where is the priority being given to this project for Ballinasloe that is to cater for children from counties all around? It is not good enough. It is words; where is the action?

I am frustrated because it has been non-stop. We did this in 2021 and we got the approval in 2023, yet here we are a year later. When is a budget going to be allocated to this project? When will we have it from the design team? I want to ask about communication because there are issues here around this. We need improved communication between the Department, the design team and the stakeholders. I ask the Minister of State to please take this message back. I want to know when that meeting is and when that design team will submit the tenders for the Department of Education's consideration.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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As I said in my opening reply, we are at an advanced stage here. As the Senator will appreciate, the addition of extra classrooms is based on it serving a wider hinterland with increased population, an intake of families from Ukraine and the road redesign. All these elements are complex in nature and require significant consideration. I will convey the Senator's frustration and the frustration of the community to the Minister. It is also important that there is effective communication of where the project is at and where we see the timeline moving towards completion of consideration of stage 2(b), design. I will take those back to the Minister, and by raising this this morning, it will put an added impetus behind the project.