Joe Conway (Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish. I am here as an advocate for the school community in Scoil Gharbháin, which serves the people of Dungarvan, Abbeyside and most of west Waterford. The Minister of State and I are of a vintage to remember the beginning of the Gaelscoil movement. That is 50 years faoi lán seoil at this stage.

We could reasonably say that the Gaelscoil movement is a victim of its own success. Gaelscoileanna everywhere are held in high esteem and are expanding and getting greater pupil numbers and greater parental acceptance. One such school is Scoil Gharbháin, which is a big school by any standards and which has an enrolment of about 320 pupils. The school serves the very strategically important town of Dungarvan in the west of the county. Being a victim of its own success, it needs to expand. The Department of Education and Youth owns the lands on which the mooted extension is going to be built, so that is not a problem. The whole idea of an extension is not a problem. It is uncontested. The Department, the school community and the board of management are as one. It is not a question of whether this is going to happen. The question of increasing importance to the school community is when it is going to happen. We have gone through a lot of the so-called loops that plague school communities, boards of management and principals. We may actually be close to the appointment of a design team to progress the final design for submission to Waterford City and County Council for planning permission, which would be a tangible indication that the project is nearly over the line. The Minister of State might be able to shine a light on that.

The proposed extension comprises four mainstream classrooms, two special educational needs classrooms and three special education tuition rooms. Special education is a fundamental constitutional right for people who want to provide their children with Irish-medium education. Gaelscoileanna are often seen as kind of elitist, but they do have special needs and have children within them who have special needs.This would be a furtherance of the provision of special needs responsibility and answerability for children in Gaelscoileanna education.

That is really the nub of it. The parents, school community and board of management know that it is going to happen but the original application went in in 2018 and we have an expression in the Gaeilge that the Minister of State will be familiar with, being a Galway man, namely, meileann muilte Dé go mall or the wheels of God grind slowly. Well, if the wheels of God grind slowly, meileann muilte an Roinn Oideachais níos moille fós. They grind even slower still. After seven years of the preparation of the project, I think it is time to push through the design team’s report so that we can progress to planning application stage and make certitude of this really worthwhile project.

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Tá an-áthas orm a bheith sa Teach seo ar maidin le haghaidh an ní seo a thógáil ar son an Aire. I think this is the first opportunity I have had to speak to the Senator here in the Seanad and I am delighted to take this Commencement matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy McEntee, who is unfortunately unavailable. I want to thank the Senator for raising this matter, as it gives me the opportunity to outline to the House a report on the progress of an application for extension to Scoil Gharbháin, Cootehill, Abbeyside, Dungarvan, County Waterford.

Scoil Gharbháin is a co-educational primary school in Dungarvan, County Waterford, with teaching being carried through the medium of Irish. There are currently 320 pupils enrolled in the school. The Department of Education and Youth is in receipt of applications under the additional school accommodation scheme from Scoil Gharbháin and approval was given in 2019 to rent two mainstream modular classrooms. In 2023, the school received approval to rent a room locally to provide one mainstream classroom. An application to purchase additional lands was submitted by the school in 2021 and the acquisition of a 2.765-acre site was completed at the end of May 2025. In 2024, Scoil Gharbháin submitted a revised ASA application to meet the school’s accommodation needs and officials from the Department of Education and Youth have been engaging with the school on an ongoing basis with a view to making the most appropriate provision possible for the school and for its current and future students.

Since 2020, the Department has invested over €6 billion in schools throughout the country under the national development plan, involving the completion of over 1,300 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 the 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 for the period 2026 to 2030 under the national development plan. As part of this NDP allocation, the Department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project roll-out for large-scale projects and additional school accommodation scheme projects, 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 2026-30 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.

The Department of Education and Youth is now preparing an NDP implementation plan. which is due for publication later in the autumn. This plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money and meets functional needs.

Joe Conway (Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is often said among Irish language enthusiasts gurb é todhchaí na nGaelscoileanna todhchaí na teanga. The embodiment of the revival and the strengthening of the Irish language is inextricably bound up with the Gaelscoileanna and the impetus it gives to the proliferation of an Ghaeilge among the younger generation. At this stage, Scoil Gharbháin has probably issued into the community at least 2,000 Irish speakers, which, for a west of Waterford cohort, is hugely significant. I am a tad disappointed that, despite my very direct question to the Minister of State, no indication was given in the reply as to when the application will be going into Waterford City and County Council. That is the nub of the thing.

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As the Senator knows, I am only reading out the script that has been given to me by the Department of education. I will read from the last page. I would like once again to thank the Senator for giving me an opportunity to outline the Department of Education and Youth’s position to the House. I understand the application from Scoil Gharbháin for additional accommodation is currently being considered and the school will be contacted directly once a decision has been made. I will ask the Minister to keep in touch with the Senator and that, when the school is contacted, he be kept in the loop. I can only seek to assure the Senator that the Department will advance this matter as quickly as possible and that it is very conscious that, where additional accommodation is required, a significant lead-in time is necessary for a variety of reasons. I will bring back to the Minister the urgency of what the Senator said.

Tá tú ceart. Tá go leor Gaelscoileanna i nGaillimh. Tá one in Órán Mór, Gaelscoil de hÍde agus ceann i Renmore, Gaelscoil Dara. Tá Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh agus Coláiste na Coiribe ann freisin. Tá siad an-tábhachtach le haghaidh na Gaeilge. Bhí go leor Gaeilge agam ach tá sé beagnach caillte.

I will let the Minister know the importance the Senator has placed on this matter and ask her to keep him notified about what is happening and to contact him when the school is notified.