2026-03-25

I was very disappointed, as were the people of north Tipperary, that in the recent capital announcement under the national development plan of 105 schools, only one in the area got funding. St. Anne's School in Roscrea got funding for an extension, which is very welcome as it is a brilliant school. However, a range of schools, and four in particular that I will mention, received considerable correspondence from the Department that to my eyes said they would be included. All are ETB schools. The correspondence is very detailed, they had been advancing these four projects for many years and to say the volume of school projects announced in the likes of Galway when compared with north Tipperary looks skew-ways would be an understatement. I commence with Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré. Roscrea has many socioeconomic issues but fantastic people. This is one of the largest schools in Tipperary and has needed a new school building for many years. I believe it has been in the capital plan for over a decade. It received confirmation it was getting a new school in 2021. I have the letter here. The school had gone for planning for a new replacement 800-pupil school with a 4-class SEN base on the existing site. It was expected this would be an absolute priority given the catchment area and socioeconomic context but it was not included. Coláiste Mhuire Co-Ed in Thurles was built in 1981 and the school building is in terrible shape. It has a fantastic principal and fantastic people. The school had approval to build seven mainstream classrooms, a music room, two multimedia rooms, two science labs, a preparation room, an art room, HSCL tuition rooms and a 2-class SEN base. The school building is leaking in many different locations. There was a meeting about this recently in the Department. The school needs a complete rebuild. The idea that you can stick some modular units on this site is a joke; with the modular units at the moment, you could stick your hands through them. Newport College has received planning approval for its development, which will be a mix of one-, two- and three-storey buildings with a total floor area of over 3,500 sq. m in 20 rooms. It will include 13 classrooms, eight specialist rooms, an SET room, two SEN units and an outdoor play area. Newport is one of the fastest-growing towns in the mid-west. It is a stone's throw from Limerick. It has taken an awful lot of change in the past 30 years given the issues in relation to regeneration in Limerick. An awful lot of social issues have been dealt with hugely by people in the area and by my councillor there, Fiona Bonfield, yet this school was left out. Finally, Nenagh Community National School has approval for three classrooms, staff and children's toilets. It bought the GP surgery next door. This school is in a situation where it does not have a classroom for sixth class and those students are going to have to use the gym. The Department is telling the school there is enough capacity in other schools. Say that to my wife, who is a teacher in the school next door to it. This is the only non-denominational primary school of large scale in Nenagh and it has been turned down for funding. There was nowhere for the sixth class to be educated last year, bar a gym. It was a big undertaking by the ETB to take on this school, which used to be the boys' national school, yet it has been left out of this funding. Why are these four schools not in the capital plan and is there any plan to put them in it in the coming weeks and months?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. We published the plan indicating the amount we will put into the NDP and the sectoral plan on education over the next three or four years. While we have the large figures and a huge amount of capital investment in it, and we announced which schools would be going over the next while, there is continuing engagement in the Department. The Deputy has raised four schools and the challenge we have is to ensure that when commitments are given by the Department to build, extend and refurbish schools, those commitments are honoured. We must either give commitments to say we are doing it or hold back on them until such time as we can meaningfully deliver on them. The Deputy raised Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré, Coláiste Mhuire Co-Ed, Nenagh CNS and Newport College. He outlined the issues in relation to Nenagh. I do not know the exact issue as I have not been there, but he mentioned the issue of using the gym as a classroom. I have serious concerns about the challenges we have in the education system. We are not looking at the hallaí, as they are called in most schools, or the gyms to turn them into classrooms in the short term. That can only be a short-term solution because all these buildings are important infrastructure for the education of young people. We have spent a huge amount in north Tipperary over the past number of years, in terms of the projects that have been delivered. There is also a huge number of other projects we are doing. We are upgrading, over the course of 2026-27, about 10% of the school estate. There is serious investment by Government in the form of capital expenditure. We are spending money and we must ensure we get the best possible value for it. I will endeavour to go back to the Department about the schools the Deputy mentioned and try to come back with some meaningful discussion on what is happening with the four schools. We visited north Tipperary some time earlier. If I had a second I could nearly put a date on it, but we had a very successful visit to north Tipperary that day. It was, dare I say it, one of the great moments I have had since being appointed. I note the schools the Deputy has raised and will endeavour to go back to the Department. I will report back to him fully on those schools. On the overall side we have put a huge amount into the national development plan to invest in education because we believe every penny invested in education is the right thing to do. We have ongoing work in the Department on school projects. The commitment I will give is to go back and try to get direct answers on the four schools the Deputy raised.

I thank the Minister of State and do not doubt his sincerity. I will ask one question very quickly. Will he meet me, and dare I say it, Deputies Lowry and O'Meara along with the ETB about these four schools? Will he please ask the Department to do that? This is not about politics and I want the other two Deputies included. These four schools are in serious trouble. The ETB is very worried, annoyed and angry about what has happened here. In his reply, will the Minister of State also confirm whether any supplemental funding will be available for capital projects or will the school projects I mentioned be pushed out until after 2027? On Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré, I believe there is discrimination going on against Roscrea. It is not a political priority. It is a huge school. The enrolment is dropping. More students are being bussed to Thurles because of the condition of the school. There is an excellent board of management and an excellent chair of that board of management. This is totally wrong. The management of Coláiste Mhuire in Thurles has been managing roof leaks and suspended ceilings, which are health and safety issues, for years. This will be a health and safety issue, if it is not dealt with. Newport College cannot sustain where it is going. It does not have the capacity to manage the volume of students. Let us look at the population index for that area and wonder where the students are going to go if this project does not proceed. Finally, I am going to say it straight out. There are young students in Nenagh who have no classroom facing into September and sixth class, one of the most formative years of their education. They have no classroom. It is as simple as that. A huge amount of investment and time has gone into the school over the years. I know because I helped with it. Those are the four schools I am referring to. Will the Minister of State please come back to me? Can we have a meeting with all three Deputies on these four schools? Will more money be coming before 2028?

There is ongoing engagement. We have given information in terms of the projects that are going to go ahead. As always, there is constant engagement with all parties to make sure we understand and deliver. We want to constantly deliver in terms of education in respect of our projects moving across the country. Deputies from all sides of the House have identified challenges that we have, no more so than in the previous Topical Issue matter I dealt with. There is ongoing engagement in the Department at all times in relation to how we can move other projects on. I will give a commitment that we will organise a meeting with all Deputies. I take the point that the Deputy has taken this issue out of the political domain and that he wants to have the entirety of the constituency involved in it. I take that point, so I will organise that meeting. The Deputy also again very forcibly raised other issues in Roscrea, in Coláiste Mhuire, in Newport and in relation to the school in Nenagh. I will go back, and then endeavour to come back to the Deputy directly on those issues. We will undertake to get a meeting as soon as possible. The education and training boards, ETBs, are doing huge work in terms of being the project managers for many projects across the country, and I thank them for that. I also thank the school communities the Deputy mentioned, and school communities the length and breadth of the country, for the amount of work they are doing. I refer to the leadership in the schools, the boards of management, and how they are trying to make sure they are giving the best possible education to their school communities. I thank the Deputy once again for raising these issues in relation to north Tipperary, and we will engage further on them.