2026-07-01

The Minister of State will have received the letter this week requesting a meeting between him and the TDs from Cork North-Central in relation to Scoil Padre Pio. We had a very important meeting on Monday with the principal, Ms Sinéad Elliffe, where she outlined that the school had been waiting and was now caught in limbo. The school’s extension was approved in 2019. The school has now gone through the whole design process and has gone back and forth with the Department, and as far as the school is concerned, it is done. It has, though, not been able to get anyone to sign off on that design. Scoil Padre Pio, then, is one of the schools stuck in the dreaded stage 2A. It is like a wasteland for schools. They go away and do the work, and then they are caught there. This is not the situation of Scoil Padre Pio alone. We also have Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers, which got approval for a new school in 2022, but it has been unable to get a response from the Department for the last 12 months. We have Scoil Chroí Íosa stuck at the same stage. Then there is St. Killian's Special School, Gaelscoil an Chaisleáin and Le Chéile Secondary School. A 15-acre site was purchased in Ballincollig in 2024, and there has still been no progress. Ballincollig is an area that is expanding hugely. There is a desperate need for school places, but once again this is stuck in limbo. There are ten schools in my constituency on the list for large-scale building projects and another 21 on the list for additional accommodation. Not one large-scale building project has been delivered in Cork North-Central since 2020. There have been 11 smaller scale accommodation projects. We have seen other schools that cannot even get onto the list. These include Scoil Barra, Clogheen Kerry Pike National School, Scoil Eoin and the Convent Primary School in Mallow. Despite the huge efforts made by their principals, these are schools that cannot even get on the radar of the Department, whatever that is about. I have visited some of these schools and seen the holes in the floors and the roofs and the dangerous steps that cannot be used by children. I am speaking about brilliant principals, teachers, SNAs and kids. These are kids who are being failed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government because they are being educated in rooms and prefabs that are not fit for education. On one hand, the Government is recognising the needs of these children. On the other hand, it is letting them remain in accommodation that is unsuitable for children. I will give the Minister of State an example. Scoil Padre Pio was one of the first schools in Cork to take on additional autism spectrum disorder, ASD, classes. It led the way. It was seen to do unbelievable work. Prefabs went in there 21 years ago. I met a man who told me he was educated in those prefabs and now his son is being educated in the same prefabs. Does the Minister of State know that the Government is after spending €1.5 million on those prefabs? Almost €100,000 is being spent each year. What a waste of money that is. This project could have been delivered for €2.5 million in 2019. Does the Minister of State know what the cost is now? It is €7 million. The longer the Government delays, the more the cost goes up.

I thank Deputy Gould.

We have a brilliant school that is dealing with some of the most vulnerable kids, both mainstream and special classes. They are being failed by this Government.

I thank the Deputy very much for the question. He mentioned a number of schools, and I definitely will go back over them. The Deputy's question, though, was on the numbers of schools in County Cork at stage 2A. The Department has a strong track record of delivering the school building programme, with over €6.9 billion invested in the last six years. This has delivered approximately 1,400 completed school building projects and over 4,000 smaller improvement projects. Over €796 million in capital funding has been invested in County Cork schools since 2020. In this period, a total of 168 schools in County Cork have been upgraded either through the provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or the provision of modular accommodation. There are also currently 18 school projects in County Cork under construction. In late 2025, 35 schools were approved to undergo works as part of the climate action summer works scheme. In addition, since 2020, a total of 375 special classes have been sanctioned in Cork, of which 69 were sanctioned for September 2026. Under the national development plan, NDP, sectoral investment plan for education and youth, €5 billion is allocated to project roll-out to modernise and expand school infrastructure. A first tranche of 105 school building projects has been published to proceed to construction or tender in the 2026-27 period. These projects were already at tender or advanced detailed design stage 2B, thereby prioritising urgent capacity pressures and special education needs. This list includes 12 projects in County Cork, which represents just over 10% of the projects within the first tranche. Prioritised projects continue to be progressed through earlier stages of the design pipeline, with a focus on special schools; schools fully in interim accommodation with an urgent requirement for permanent accommodation; projects delivering significant special education capacity; additional accommodation required to cater for demographic growth in an area; and projects dealing with the most significant condition issues. As part of the Department-led prioritisation process that is under way for 2026 and 2027, consultation with school patrons began this month. A further tranche of priority projects is targeted for publication in 2027, informed by departmental analysis, engagement with the patrons and schools, funding parameters and, where relevant, the Department’s energy and condition inventory of the school estate, and this is due for completion by year end. Projects will need to be at an appropriate stage of readiness to be considered. In particular, projects already at stage 2A are well positioned for inclusion in the next tranche. There are currently 47 projects progressing through stage 2A of the architectural planning process in County Cork, reflecting solid momentum within the county’s school building pipeline. All projects continue to undergo detailed technical and cost assessment in line with Government infrastructure guidelines, with progression managed carefully across the wider capital programme. Departmental officials have recently intensified engagement with schools whose stage 2A reports have been under examination for some time, ensuring that each project is fully considered within overall prioritisation and programme management. I must say that there is huge engagement within the Department. I take the points the Deputy made in relation to the schools he mentioned and the prefabs. I take that issue in relation to prefabs very seriously because I see this right across the country. The Deputy mentioned a number of schools and I will follow up in regard to them. There is, though, solid investment in the city and county of Cork.

I have the printout of the schools here. They include St. Killian’s Special School, stage 2A, Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers, stage 2A, Scoil Chroí Íosa, stage 2A, Gaelscoil an Chaisleáin, stage 1, Coláiste an Phiarsaigh, stage 2B, and Scoil Mhuire, stage 2B. Then there are Cork Educate Secondary School and Le Chéile Secondary School, Ballincollig, stage 1, and Coláiste Choilm, stage 2B. When are these to move on to the next stage? The Minister of State came in here and gave me a list. I have a list, too. All these schools are crying out for support and funding to move on to the next stage. I also have another list. I care about the two lists because they contain the schools in my area, Cork North-Central, which I was elected to come in here and speak for. There are four capital projects in Cork North-Central, none of which is large scale. Where are the large-scale projects that the Minister of State outlined for my community and for the children in my area? There are two new schools in Cork South-Central. What we are looking for on the northside are four small-scale projects, four extensions, but where is the commitment from the Department to move them on from stage 2A or stage 2B? Scoil Padre Pio has waited for seven years. Is that acceptable? Deputy Moynihan is the Minister of State. I am asking him a straight question because I do not believe the wait is acceptable. Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers has been waiting for years. Is that acceptable? These are schools in my area and they are crying out. St. Killian’s Special School, one of the best schools in the country, is crying out. Will the Minister of State give a commitment here today to ensure all these projects progress?

The only way we can give a commitment is by allocating sufficient funding within the Department. There has been a huge amount of continued investment in the school estate. There are literally billions of euro being spent across the country.

Not in Churchfield.

To be fair now, the question I was asked to respond to was in relation to investment in County Cork. There has been considerable investment right across the education system, and the Department of education has full sight of it. I acknowledge the frustration of schools that urgently need to progress to the next stage, but there has been serious engagement over recent weeks and months on how we are going to prioritise and make sure our investment in 2027 addresses the most critical points, such as the condition of buildings. We have also prioritised ensuring special education is put at the centre of capital expenditure across the education system. We are building capacity for special education at both primary and post-primary levels, and indeed in special schools. It is not true to say the Department is not spending money. There is a huge investment commitment in the national development plan. That is cold comfort for the communities the Deputy mentioned, one of which has been waiting for four years and another for seven. We should be targeting our resources to ensure that the condition of buildings does not deteriorate to such an extent that we have to do massive jobs on them. We should be investing earlier. Under the national development plan, we have committed serious money for the coming years, and we will be working with the schools. The Deputy mentioned a number of schools. I certainly will reflect on those and on the special schools. We have 20 of them open.