Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)
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On Tuesday, I raised an issue on the Order of Business and, on the advice of the Leader, submitted a Commencement matter. The issue relates to Carrabane National School just outside Loughrea, County Galway. I was strong in mentioning that this is a 20-year debacle that is not the doing of the Minister of State or the Minister, Deputy McEntee. It is something they have inherited, but it urgently needs to be addressed.

A few years ago, Carrabane National School got approval for construction but the builder pulled out and the planning permission lapsed. The school had to go back to the drawing board as regards all the preliminary designs. It got as far as 2B and submitted again. As it already did a tendering process, it is entitled to appoint the next available tender but needs approval from the Minister straight away.

I know there is a school capital programme in the pipeline. I would appreciate it if Carrabane National School was included and I urge its inclusion. I visited the principal on Monday. The man is under severe stress. Not only is the school completely not fit for purpose, there are multiple classrooms in prefabs because the floor has fallen through. The roof of one of the classrooms fell in during the summer. Thank God no kids were in the classroom at the time.

Schools are also facing other issues, including the cost of heating these prefabs when the capitation grant is only €224 per student at primary school level. That is out of sync with our second level schools. The school is under severe pressure. I would appreciate it if we could help it at this stage by intervening and ensuring it is on the school capital programme when it is introduced.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising the issue in respect of Carrabane National School, County Galway. I know he raised it on the Order of Business on Tuesday. I thank him for his warm welcome to Galway recently and for the engagement we had with schools across east Galway. It was a lovely day and we certainly got a flavour of the issues across the county,

Since 2020, the Department of Education and Youth has invested over €224 million, supporting the completion of 86 school building projects, with a further 31 currently in construction in Galway. Across the country, the Department of Education and Youth has invested over €6 billion in schools throughout the country under the national development plan, involving the completion of over 1,400 school building projects. Government support for this investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, has delivered real benefits for school communities. Supplementary capital funding of €210 million approved by Government has brought the total capital allocation for 2025 for the Department of Education and Youth to €1.6 billion.

In July, the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026 to 2030 under the national development plan. As part of this NDP allocation a strong emphasis will be placed on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs.

In respect of the project roll-out for large-scale projects and additional school accommodation schemes, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project roll-out over the course of the 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.

Carrabane National School is a co-educational primary school constructed in the 1940s. The school is under the patronage of the Bishop of Clonfert, with a current enrolment of some 208 pupils. The project for Carrabane National School is part of the Department's traditional construction programme and the project brief provides for the construction of a replacement eight-classroom primary school and accommodation, including two classrooms for children with special educational needs. Planning permission for the project expired in 2024 and an extension of planning permission was required. This extension was granted by the local authority in late August 2025. The project is currently at architectural planning stage 3 - tender action and award.

A tender report was received by the Department of Education and Youth and is currently under review by departmental officials. Due diligence is an integral part of the Department of Education and Youth's process and when this review is complete and subject to no further issues arising, the Department will be in further contact with the school authority and the design team. Until such time as a contractor has been appointed, a timeline for completion cannot be provided. However, I assure the Senator that we will work on it. The application is under review at the moment and I will ask Department officials to look at it as soon as possible.

Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate that a definite timeline cannot be given. There is a review under way and I hope it moves quickly. As the Minister of State mentioned, two special classes were included in the build. Twenty years ago, Carrabane National School was the first national school outside the city boundary in County Galway to introduce a special class. The school was proactive. Extended members of my own family have benefited enormously from the education they got in special classes in Carrabane National School. It is a shining example of what can be done when people want to bring inclusive education into the education setting.I urge that we reward them for what they have done over the years. They have survived conditions that students probably should not be learning in and teachers struggle to teach in. I was given a tour of the school by the principal on Monday. They are struggling down there. Whatever can be done, I would really appreciate it.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I congratulate Carrabane National School on being one of the first outside of the city to open a special class. Going back over the years, all school communities that put up their hand, so to speak, and took on special classes have really fostered very inclusive education on their campus. I congratulate Carrabane on what they are doing and their continued good work on it. The commitment I would give the Senator, and I know it is an issue very close to his heart as he has spoken to me about it and raised it here earlier this week and today, is that I will follow up on it to ensure there is no delay. We have to go through due process in evaluating the tender documentation in the Department. Nobody will thank us for it if we do not do that right, but we will do it in a meaningful way and we will report back to the Senator. I thank him again for his interest and we will continue to work on it.