2026-04-23

19. Deputy Noel McCarthy asked the Minister for Education and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 211 of 12 February 2026, the progress made to date in ensuring the use of a green area by schools (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28762/26]

I ask the Minister for Education and Youth, further to Parliamentary Question No. 211 of 12 February 2026, the progress made to date in ensuring the use of a green area by schools at Carrigtwohill School campus and if she will make a statement on the matter.

I am very aware of this issue. I recently met Scoil Mhuire Naofa and the local representatives, including the Deputy, on the matter. A campus project was delivered for three schools - Carrigtwohill Community College, Scoil Mhuire Naofa Carrigtwohill, and Scoil Clíodhna Community National School - as part of my Department's design and build programme. The project was completed in quarter 4 of 2023. The schools on the campus have sought to use a green area, which forms part of the site for recreation purposes. The area in question, as the Deputy knows, is not suitable for a formal playing pitch, because it is required as an attenuation basin under the flood management system for the campus. However, the Department is pleased to support the schools' access to this green area as an informal recreation space. Planning permission was granted by Cork County Council for an entrance and access way to this green area, as a standalone planning application. The scope of works and associated costs to provide the entrance and access way is being reviewed by the Department and officials will update the schools upon completion of that review. In addition, there is an area of about 1.9 acres to the north of the campus in my Department's ownership. The Department has agreed that this can be used as a recreation area by the schools on a licence basis. Officials from my Department are in contact with the relevant stakeholders to progress this. Should the land be required to support school place expansion in the future, its use as a recreation area will cease. My Department has had positive and productive engagements with the three schools and their patrons throughout all stages of this project and will continue to support the schools on the new school campus.

I thank the Minister for her response. I thank her and her Department officials for recently meeting councillor Anthony Barry, Rory Cocking and me to discuss this matter. It is encouraging to hear at first hand from the Department that the expectation remains that access to the green area will be granted to all campus schools for recreational purposes. Entrance and access works to the green area have been approved, as the Minister said, by Cork County Council, but these works have yet to be completed. We are now nearly in May and it would be highly beneficial to all if these works were undertaken to ensure that access to the green area is in place for the upcoming school year in September. With this in mind, will the Minister confirm whether she has had any further recent engagement with the ETB and the schools on the matter and the status of the access works to be completed?

A scope of works and associated costs for the green space have been received by my Department for the proposed works to provide access to that green area. On initial review, it is the Department's recommendation that a cost-effective solution be considered and resubmitted for further consideration. Once the scope works and the cost to provide the access and entrance are agreed, procurement of a contractor to complete the works can be undertaken. Until the scope works are agreed, it is just not possible to give a timeline for completion, but the commitment is there to work with the schools on this. On completion of the works, my Department intends that the lands will be handed over to Cork Education and Training Board to be managed and maintained.

I thank the Minister for her positive response. It is good to hear that work will be undertaken as soon as the scope of work and cost is in. This is an easy win for all concerned. The green area is a flood attenuation area that is currently locked and lying idle despite being approved. It would make perfect sense that students of all ages would be able to benefit from the use of such a large green area close to their schools. There will be no pitch markings or changes of any description, just a green area that will be cut regularly and used for recreation. I therefore again ask the Minister to address the need for her and her Department to do everything within their power to ensure that the area is open to all local students as soon as possible. I thank the Minister for her positive response.

I thank the Deputy. The original planning permission for the campus development at Carrigtwohill included the green area lands to the south of the school building infrastructure, so the green area was always included in the development as a flood attenuation zone, which forms part of the campus flood mitigation strategy. The campus development was delivered according to the schedule of accommodation, which provided three general purpose areas, a PE hall in the post-primary school and a total of 13 ball courts across the three schools. As the function of the green area is primarily as a flood attenuation area, once the access and entrance are delivered, the area of green space can be accessed by the schools for recreation purposes and can be used when the weather and ground conditions permit. As I say, there has been ongoing engagement with my Department about this. At our meeting, we gave the commitment for this to proceed. The scope of works and associated costs were received by the Department, so the Department is asking the schools to come back with further information, and we can work with them.