2026-02-12

I thank the Minister of State for attending to reply on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth. I raise this Topical Issue in relation to a local school in my constituency. It is a very famous secondary school that a lot of people might be familiar with, namely, CBS, Westland Row in Dublin 2. It is a DEIS school that has a very diverse student base. There are children who are living in emergency accommodation, in international protection accommodation, and in many of the neighbouring areas of the city. I called into the school on Wednesday because the principal and the deputy principal had contacted me. They are essentially reaching the end of the road with the school's emergency works application in relation to a downpipe issue in the school. I was brought through the various classrooms with black mould on some of the ceilings and toilets that are completely out of use. I think there is one toilet available for all of the boys. It is a mixed secondary school. There is a possibility that some of the classrooms will have to be shut. The challenge lies not in the Department being unwilling to provide the necessary funding to complete the downpipe but in bureaucracy. In December 2025, this school was granted emergency works to the value of €742,688 for a stand-alone electrical upgrade project. In fact, the moneys granted exceed the amount necessary to provide that stand-alone electrical work upgrade project. The actual project will cost the school €425,270.47, some €300,000 less than what the Department granted for it. I am not an engineer but it seems likely that this electrical upgrade project, which has been granted by the Department, will be almost impossible to proceed, or it does not make sense to proceed, while these downpipe issues continue. Yet when the school applies under the emergency works application for the downpipe works, it faces a ceiling of approximately €50,000, which its own architects have identified will be insufficient to meet the challenge. The school has been advised by the Department that it can come back for the summer works programme for the downpipe issue but the challenge there is the deadline has already closed for the summer works programme for this term and it would have to wait until autumn. Meanwhile, it has received funding of €100,000 from the community integration fund for its hall. It has also received funding for a science laboratory. All of these funding mechanisms have been made available but the underlying mechanics of the school are so challenging that some of the classrooms would have to shut. All I am looking for is for one side of the Department to talk to the other and that a pragmatic outcome is arrived at to support a DEIS secondary school in the heart of the south inner city. The principal and deputy principal are just trying to keep the school open, ensure the teachers are working in a safe environment, and maintain the classrooms it currently has. I ask that one side talk to the other and sufficient funding be made available to meet the downpipe challenge the school faces.

I am responding on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Naughton. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to discuss the role of the Department of Education and Youth’s emergency works scheme. The purpose of the emergency works scheme is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies or to providing funding 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 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 operates on the basis of a minimal scope of works required to address the emergency situation. The scheme is intended to remedy an emergency situation and usually provides an interim measure until a permanent solution can be delivered under a summer works scheme. The new climate action summer works scheme approved 297 applications in November 2025. The school in question submitted an application for funding under the emergency works scheme for roof works on 1 October 2025, with a decision issuing by the Department on 8 October 2025. Unfortunately, the school's original application was refused as the application did not fit the remit of the emergency works scheme, that being the scope of works that was presented did not meet the criteria of sudden and unforeseen. However, the option remains open to the school to appeal this decision. Appeals will only be considered if additional relevant information that was not provided as part of the original application is provided to the Department. The school in question had other emergency works applications approved in the past 12 months. In August of last year, the school was approved funding for electrical installation, emergency lighting and a fire alarm. This project is currently with the school to progress further. With all emergency works scheme applications, the emergency works team is aware of the urgent nature of the works required, and will keep the school informed throughout the process. In November 2023, the school in question submitted an application for funding for roof works under the emergency works scheme. The Department sought further information from the school in a number of queries in November of that year but due to the passage of time and having received no response from the school to the queries, the application was closed off. I understand the school is also in contact with the Department of Education and Youth in regard to a current issue and I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to provide an update on this matter directly to Deputy Geoghegan. Assessing the response from the Minister, I know the new application did not meet the criteria for emergency works. There is an opportunity for the school to appeal. The key point Deputy Geoghegan is making is that he is very much of the view, based, I am sure, on his visit to the school, that the two issues are related and that to do one is not feasible without doing the other. I am sure this would be the key point as the basis of any appeal open to the school. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know he will be coming back with a further response. I will certainly be relaying the fact that he raised this issue and the points he made to the Minister. I have no doubt that the Minister will liaise with him to see if there is a way forward.

I thank the Minister of State for his response on behalf of the Minister and the Department. I also thank the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton. In the context of any appeal the school may bring, I take note of the link between the significant amount of funds provided for the electrical works scheme and the challenge that, for whatever reason under the Department's system, a downpipe does not meet the necessary threshold that, perhaps, electrical installations, emergency lighting or fire alarms meet. The school faced this issue previously. It is a protected building. Funding was received for windows that have been installed, but it was not possible to get additional funding to deal with the downpipe. I saw the windows. Over €280,000 was spent by the Department on them. They are now rotting away at the side because of the issue with the downpipe. Some moneys have been allocated in excess of what the school sought. Common sense should prevail here. Acknowledging the number of schools the Department funds throughout the country and the number of applications that are made, I urge that particular priority be given to this school. As I said, it is a DEIS school, which, let us be frank, is different from another school that might be in my constituency and that might be able to take out the biscuit tin and raise some money from parents to ensure that the necessary work is done. CBS Westland Row is simply not in that position. I hope the school will submit an appeal. In light of what the Minister of State said, I think it will do so. I also think that the Department will see sense and will support the school with the additional moneys it has been granted to fix the issue with the downpipe in order to avoid the school being closed or the children not being able to gain access to it.

I will certainly relay the points the Deputy made back to the Minister. The response I have been given outlines the difference between the emergency works scheme in terms of the criteria to qualify for it and for the summer works scheme. The Department is making the case that the downpipe issue is a matter that would qualify for the summer work scheme as opposed to the emergency works scheme, even though, as should always be the case, it would appear that the school is achieving very good value here in relation to the electrical works contract, the cost of which is coming in under the amount allocated via the emergency works scheme. If the two issues in terms of the downpipe and its impact on the capacity to effectively carry out the work in relation to the electrics are related, they should certainly be presented alongside each other. The way forward here is for the school to examine the opportunity of an appeal, no doubt working with the Deputy to see how that could best be put forward. It can also make the case to the Department concerning how that emergency works money should be considered as contributing to the downpipe work as well to see if that can somehow be made to meet the criteria to be approved. I thank the Deputy again for raising the matter. I will faithfully report back to the Minister on the debate and on the Deputy's requests and representations.