2026-04-16

St. Aidan's CBS Whitehall first opened in 1964 and is part of the very fabric of our community. It has provided an excellent education for generations of boys from around Whitehall, Glasnevin and Ballymun. Over the years, substantial amounts of money have been spent on maintaining the school buildings and 60-year-old prefabs. The demand for secondary school places and applications for admission to St. Aidan's are high and the school is always hugely oversubscribed. There are two phases to the proposed new development. The first phase will be the construction of the new, modern school into which the students will decamp from the old, dilapidated prefabs. The second phase will be the removal of the old prefabs and the building of much-needed ASD units, which will include a sensory room as well as special educational needs classrooms. The project was granted permission by An Bord Pleanála on 24 February 2025. However, the school, the parents and the community are dismayed that, to date, St. Aidan's is not listed among the 105 projects specifically highlighted as moving to tender and construction by 2026 and 2027 in the first tranche of the 2026 NDP roll-out. This oversight needs to be addressed, and St. Aidan's should be included on the NDP priority list.

As Deputy Ellis has said, this is an incredible school. It is incredibly popular and it does an amazing job. Unfortunately, the principal of that school recently met Deputy Hearne, Deputy Ellis and me to ask the question, "To be, or not to be". The school is at stage 2B and the question is whether it will progress. What is proposed is fantastic. We are talking about 15 classrooms and 15 other rooms, including science labs, construction rooms, technology rooms and special education facilities. It is disappointing that the school is not on the priority list. The Tánaiste has given some indication that other projects will be funded. St. Aidan's and a number of other projects in our area need to be on the list the Department is progressing. We also need to make sure that there is no delay in terms of the school's ability to plan and design the project. Can other elements of the project be progressed while they are waiting for the final construction phase? The school community, the principal and the parents are really passionate about this project. They want it to happen because they know the difference it will make.

To follow on from my fellow Deputies in Dublin North-West, we are highlighting this issue today because St. Aidan's CBS in Whitehall is at the centre of the community. It provides excellent education. We met the school principal and deputy principal recently, who outlined their very real frustration with the lack of progress on promises of new school buildings. Tá foirgneamh scoile nua ag teastáil ó St. Aidan's agus ó phobal Whitehall, Glasnevin and of course the wider area up to Ballymun where students come from. The community needs a school. Tá siad tar éis fanacht rófhada. They are waiting too long. What really is causing frustration is the need for clarity from the Department of education as to why St. Aidan's is not on the priority list. It should be. It is urgently needed. We look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response.

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth. I know that Deputy McAuliffe has engaged directly with the Taoiseach on this but it is very positive to see such cross-party support on an issue. The school was approved to enter the Department's pipeline for a project under the additional school accommodation scheme, ASA. The project will provide 15 general classrooms, five special education tuition rooms, a two-classroom special educational needs base, one music room, one multimedia room, one art room, one construction studies room, one technology prep room, two project stores, two science labs, one prep area, one design-computer graphics room, and ancillary services. The project was devolved to the school authority for delivery. This project is currently at stage 2B. The stage 2B report was submitted to the Department in January of this year and is currently undergoing a comprehensive technical and cost review. All projects, including this one, are subject to the full due diligence requirements set out in the Department’s infrastructure guidelines. Although this project is not within the first tranche of school building projects recently published in the NDP sectoral investment plan, it remains part of the Department’s overall pipeline of school building projects. The NDP sectoral plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. In this regard, there will be a strong special education dimension to project roll-out. The Department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years with the continued roll-out of projects on a prioritised basis to meet the most urgent needs in terms of provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing facilities. As part of planning ahead for the next tranche of projects to progress to tender, the Department-led prioritisation process will continue over the course of 2026 and 2027 to assess and evaluate the progression of individual projects through the design pipeline, having regard to the continual need to maximise existing capacity and determine the prioritised needs going forward. This process will involve engagement with key stakeholders and individual schools and will ultimately inform the next tranches of programme roll-out to tender. The Department-led energy and condition survey of the school estate, which will be finalised later in 2026, will provide an additional evidence base for assessing priorities. Based on this ongoing prioritisation process, some projects may be added to the list over the course of 2026 and 2027, having regard to their prioritisation and urgency of need and taking account also of the ongoing ability to progress them to tender and construction within the parameters of overall funding. Where appropriate, the Department will also assess opportunities to undertake advance enabling works for the most urgent and complex projects to facilitate a smooth progression to construction in 2028 and beyond. Any interim accommodation requirements will continue to be assessed and considered by the Department on a case-by-case basis to determine the prioritised needs and approach for addressing same.

I understand the Minister, Deputy Naughton, is not here to take this really important issue. I appreciate the Minister of State taking it. I hope this does not lessen what we are saying and what we are looking for. The urgency of this and of prioritising it is crucial to the people in the area and to the school itself. They have done tremendous work on this. Everything is in place and ready to go. We need a commitment. I know the Minister of State said there might be a possibility of some other schools being included. We are urging that they be included as soon as possible to get this moving forward.

I echo what Deputy Ellis has said. To reinforce the point, this is a very constrained site. It is quite compact. There is a portion of it that is owned by the religious order where housing is actually being developed. In the wider Santry area, it is very positive that we have more housing supply but there is an increasing population. Around the corner on the Swords Road, the Department of education has planned two 1,000-pupil secondary schools. This morning at the Committee of Public Accounts, the Secretary General of the Department of education said there were opportunities to include additional projects. St. Aidan's should be one of those.

It is important that St. Aidan's is included in the new list and is prioritised. I again express the frustration from the school. The principal and deputy principal outlined that they had submitted the developed design to the Department in January of this year but they were still waiting to get a response on that. The Minister of State set out that it was undergoing a comprehensive technical and cost review. It would be good to get a very clear timeframe for when the Department is going to give its response in terms of that review, and to give the school some indication of when this is going to be developed.

I thank the three Deputies again for giving me an opportunity to update the House regarding the accommodation at St Aidan's CBS Whitehall. The Department is committed to ensuring appropriate accommodation is available for all school pupils and will, in the wider context outlined, ensure that each school project under the school building programme is subject to due diligence required under the Government's infrastructure guidelines. The Deputies made a very strong case for the school this evening. Deputy McAuliffe has confirmed what was said at the committee today. It is possible for additional schools to be included in 2626 and 2027. I assure Deputy Ellis that it is no less relevant that I am taking the debate this evening. I will relay the strong points that the Deputies have made this evening to my colleague the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to reinforce the message that this school has a priority to be included in 2026-27. Even for those that are not included in that, the Department is looking at ways to ensure that enabling works can be done so that when a further tranche of money becomes available in 2028, further schools will be added at that stage. The Department has been as flexible as it can be to ensure the maximum amount of construction work happens in 2026, 2027 and on into 2028. The Deputies have made compelling cases this evening for St. Aidan's and I undertake to bring that back to the Minister, Deputy Naughton, on foot of their representations here in the House.