Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber. I seek an update on the new school building for Clonturk Community College. I ask this on behalf of a frustrated school community. We understood a master plan for the campus on the Swords Road was to be ready by the first quarter of this year. That deadline has been missed. We are told by the Department a design team has yet to be appointed. That is unacceptable. This is a 1,000-pupil school that has been waiting a number of years for a plan to be put in place for the new school building. It is to be one of four new schools on that campus.

We welcome the announcement last week about An Cosán moving to that campus but while we are getting announcements, we are not getting action. The school community is getting increasingly frustrated about the impact on the school, including the lack of a proper hall. At one stage, transition years were having to go to a hall up the road separate from the school campus. There are prefabs there whose planning permission, we understand, is due to expire soon. There are concerns about having the appropriate space, particularly for those with additional needs, and resource space.

The school is thriving, in enormous demand and oversubscribed. It has done all the right things since it was set up a number of years ago but has been left waiting for its new school building. I was on the board of management five years ago and the school building was a subject of serious concern then. We have had little or no progress since then - a lot of talk and statements but no actual progress. I hope the Minister of State can provide a concrete update on timelines for Clonturk Community College and its new school building.

Pippa Hackett (Green Party)
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I thank the Senator for the question. I am here on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley, but hope to provide some updates new to the Deputy on the proposed development of this multischool campus on the Swords Road in Whitehall. A memorandum of understanding, MOU, between the Department of Education and City of Dublin Education and Training Board, ETB, was finalised in March 2022. This MOU sets out an ambitious agreement between the two parties 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 of 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.

The MOU also sets out the provision of schools infrastructure across City of Dublin ETB sites, including a new school building for Killester-Raheny educate together national school at the Killester College of Further Education site and a multischool campus at the Swords Road site in Whitehall. This multischool campus site was identified as a solution to provide a new 1,000-student school building for Clonturk Community College, a new 1,000-student school building for Ellenfield Community College and a new eight-classroom primary school for Gaelscoil Áine, which is under the patronage of An Foras Pátrúnachta.

The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, Deputy Naughton, and Dr. Christy Duffy, chief executive of City of Dublin ETB, announced in October 2024 that a permanent building for An Cosán Community Special School will also be included on the Whitehall campus, which will make this the State’s largest ever multischool campus. This shared campus approach promotes an inclusive learning environment for all students in the community and reflects the Department of Education's commitment to the co-location of new special schools with mainstream schools where possible.

The continuation of further education and training provision on the Swords Road site has also been identified as a priority by City of Dublin ETB. In that context, the Whitehall campus project on the Swords Road site will include master planning for potential further education and training facility development. The project will be delivered under the Department's 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 from 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 the ADAPT 4 programme was appointed in quarter 3 2023 and has been progressing the tender documentation for the procurement of the multidisciplinary design team consultants, which has now issued to tender. The tender competition is due to close before the end of this year and it is anticipated that design team consultants will be appointed early in quarter 1 2025. Following those appointments, the project will commence stage 1 preliminary design. The design team will then progress the project through the design stages.

Unfortunately, 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. However, the advancement of this key strategic project is a priority for the Department and for City of Dublin ETB. A significant amount of work, as the Senator outlined, has already been undertaken on the project, including close stakeholder engagement on some critical strategic aspects of the overall solution. This advance work positions this ambitious project well to progress as part of the Department’s capital programme pipeline.

Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I note the Department states a significant amount of work has been done but I do not believe that is felt on the ground by the school community.The reality is that it has taken a year for the programme manager to put together the procurement process for the multidisciplinary design team. The tender documents have only gone out now. There is a very clear issue. The school needs clarity on when it is going to get a building. We understand the design team will only be appointed next year, which means it will be many years before the school will have a building. We need greater clarity on dates from the Department. More importantly, we need a commitment that it will be done in a speedy fashion. The other side of this for Gaelscoil Áine is that I regularly meet parents who are trying to decide whether to send their children to Gaelscoil Áine based on its current location on Mobhi Road when it may be in its new location in Whitehall. The two locations are quite different. My experience of this school project to date is that the Department has been extremely slow. It has dragged its heels. We need to see much quicker progress on this school campus. It will be fantastic when it is done but it is taking way too long.

Pippa Hackett (Green Party)
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The Senator is right. It is going to be a fantastic campus when it is done. The million dollar question is when it will be done. The Department continues to engage closely with City of Dublin ETB and An Foras Pátrúnachta, the patron of Gaelscoil Áine, to advance the project. I understand the frustration that this is not being seen on the ground. Perhaps communications with the wider school community could be improved. Continued engagement is essential. It is important to keep people on board because it is going to be a fabulous facility and a very exciting school campus in what I hope will be the not-too-distant future.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Before we go, I thank the Minister of State for spending her time with us. I know she is busy so I thank her for giving us her time to deal with the four Commencement matters here today. As this will be my last day in the Chair in this term and given that the Minister of State is here, I acknowledge her very significant work. It would be a challenge for anyone but it is particularly challenging for a Minister of State who is also a Senator. We in the House are very proud to have had a Minister of State with us. We have had some before but very few. I wish her well in the coming days and I thank her for her work and for her engagement with us. It must be a very proud day for the Senator's daughter, Heidi, who is here with us in the Visitors Gallery. We send the Minister of State our good wishes for the coming weeks.