Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

501. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will request the Louth Meath Education and Training Board to provide immediate comprehensive support to an organisation (details supplied) by making a suitable building temporarily available in order that the board can open a Gaelcholáiste in County Louth in time for children to register for September 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36526/20]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

535. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if correspondence from a person (details supplied) in relation to a school will be examined; the status of the project; the contact her Department has had with Louth Meath Education and Training Board regarding the project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36851/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 501 and 535 together.

As the Deputy may be aware, my Department has had significant engagement with an Irish-medium school patron in relation to its proposal for a Gaelcholáiste under its patronage to also have a campus in County Louth. The proposal does not involve the establishment of a new school but rather an additional campus of an existing school, albeit located some distance apart. The engagement included assessing options in Dundalk for the 2020/21 school year and beyond, given the role of school patrons in the provision of additional school accommodation.

Locating the proposed campus in part of the Coláiste Chú Chulainn premises/school, which Louth and Meath Education and Training Board had being willing to facilitate, has not proven to be acceptable to some parties previously involved with the Aonad at Coláiste Chú Chulainn and my Department has agreed to consider an alternative mechanism.

The school patron making the proposal had identified a potential property from which it proposed the campus would operate. My Department arranged a technical inspection of the property and subsequently had further engagement with the school patron. It has recently come to light that the property proposed by the school patron may not be available to lease for the purpose of accommodating the proposed campus. My Department has requested the school patron to establish the exact position on this. Should it not be available, other options which may be identified can be considered.

In relation to the ETB property referenced by the Deputy, my Department understands that this property is fully utilised for further education purposes and accordingly is not available for the purpose requested.

In order for the proposal from the Irish-medium patron and associated costs to be fully assessed, it is necessary to have certainty on the location of the proposed campus and costs arising. While this is worked through, those students who have chosen to enrol in the Gaelcholáiste under the patronage of the Irish-medium school patron located some distance away, continue to be served by school transport. My Department also understands that Coláiste Chú Chulainn continues to accept applications for enrolment in its Aonad.