Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for being here. I really appreciate it. I take this opportunity to formally congratulate her on her new role. I was able to do so informally, but it is important to also do it formally.

What I am raising today will not be new to the Minister because I happened to bump into her at the Young Scientist exhibition and took the opportunity to speak to her about the situation in the school at the Curragh. Of course, I have been in email contact with her office on an ongoing basis.

It is coincidental that the final Commencement matter I tabled before Christmas related to the issue I am raising today, although it concerned the new build, that is, the new school that is going on the Magee Barracks site in Kildare town, which will cater for the students of the Curragh, Newbridge and Kildare. As we know, that project is at the tender stage. We are certainly hoping it will receive priority from the Department. Since the Commencement debate in question, things have become very bad at the existing school building in the Curragh. It is an unusual situation because it is on Department of Defence land, and the Department of Defence is a co-patron, along with Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB. This school was originally built for 140 students, but it currently has 300. That is because, with the pressure on the existing secondary schools in Newbridge and Kildare, a decision was made and the board of management of the Curragh Community College was asked to expand its capacity to take in the extra numbers before the new school was built. This was in view of the fact that the new school is going to be built in two stages. Unfortunately, things have gone from bad to worse in the existing building. The school is over capacity. The facilities are not in the condition that anyone would want to see either the students or teachers in. For example, there is a staff room that accommodates ten people but there are almost 40 staff members at this stage.

There have been numerous communications from the staff and many from students as well. The week before last, I went to the school at the behest of some of the teachers and was appalled by what I saw. Three of the classrooms cannot be used because of damp and mould. The issue is that the roof has been leaking, so the school has made an application for emergency works for a new roof. This absolutely has to be expedited as soon as possible. At the moment, the school is shipping fifth and sixth year students to an alternative location a few miles away. It was difficult enough to get transport from Kildare and Newbridge to the Curragh Camp, but we are now faced with another logistical situation in terms of pupils and teachers having to move between two campuses, which are several miles apart. As the Minister can imagine, buses, taxis and so on have to be arranged.

I particularly want to mention an email I received from Alannah Dunne, Ali McGannon and Libby Christie. They speak about neglect, broken promises and ongoing safety concerns. As students, they say that everything about the place has declined rapidly. I want to be very clear. The staff of the school are excellent. The atmosphere of support for one another between the whole school community is top class. The principal, Nessa Doyle, and her team are doing incredible work with students who now come from a much wider area. However, what they are going through at the moment is shocking. I hope the Minister can give us some up-to-date information on this.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue and giving me the opportunity to come to the Seanad today. The purpose of the emergency works scheme, as the Senator knows, is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies, or to facilitate inclusion and access for pupils with special needs. It does so by ensuring the availability of funding for urgent works to those schools that are in need of resources as a result of an emergency situation.An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action and, in the case of a school, if not corrected would prevent the school or part thereof from opening.

The emergency works scheme, EWS, operates on the basis of a minimal scope works to address the emergency situation. The scheme is intended to remedy the emergency situation and usually is provided only as an interim measure until a permanent solution can be delivered under the summer works scheme, which deals with upgrade works to the school. The emergency works scheme operates on a devolved basis. Schools manage the application process and the works directly through the Esinet portal, with minimal departmental intervention after approval.

In the case of the school in question, it is noted that a site visit was carried out by a member of the Department's technical unit late last year to assist the school with guidance on how to address some of the accommodation issues the school faces. The emergency works scheme team subsequently contacted the school patron with advice on the next steps on how to apply for the emergency works scheme funding to remediate the emergency issues. This subsequent contact with the school patron included the EWS team providing advice on sequencing the works in a manner that ensures the affected classrooms can be brought back into use as a matter of urgency.

I understand that the school in question has currently no outstanding EWS application for the issue in question but the officials in the emergency works team have engaged with the school authority and advised it on the next steps required in order to submit the emergency works scheme application. The EWS team remains open to assisting the school should it need further advice on how to submit an application. Once an application has been received, the EWS team will assess the application and engage with the school to advise it on the next steps - the team is aware of the urgent nature of the works - once it has been received. The Senator clearly outlined the urgency in relation to this. The officials in the team will deal with that application accordingly.

As the Senator alluded to, the school in question also has a live building project for a new school which is currently at architectural planning stage 3.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for her response and her interest and concern in relation to this matter. I understood from my meeting in the week before last with the principal and the teachers that an application had been submitted through the KWETB. I will phone the principal directly after this engagement. The school has a good working relationship with KWETB. I would be concerned if the Department had not received that application at this point. Obviously, that is a clear priority.

I want to hear from the Minister that once the application has been received in its totality, it will be given the priority it deserves. She spoke about immediate risk and unforeseen works. This case fits all of the criteria. We want to have it sorted out because we want to have a safe place for the students and their teachers. Ultimately, we want to have the new-build school the pupils and teachers deserve in order that they can move into it on a phased basis, as agreed.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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That would be great. The information in the Department is that an application has not yet been received. Maybe work is ongoing. There is a commitment within the Department. The team understands the urgency of carrying out these works to ensure the school is safe and classes can open for students. There has been engagement with the school and perhaps we can clarify where the application is at present. I hear the Senator loud and clear in relation to the urgency of these works.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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The Minister's response has not been circulated. If one has not been brought over, I ask that a response be sent to the House.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I will circulate one.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister for her time. We greatly appreciate it.