Schools Building Projects

I appreciate the Minister being here in person to take this important Topical Issue. Castleknock Community College, CCC, as it is known locally, is a secondary school in my Dublin West constituency located in Carpenterstown. It is a very large secondary school. It currently has 1,335 students. The reason this school is so big is a number of years ago, there was major pressure on secondary school places in the Carpenterstown-Castleknock school planning area. CCC shares this school planning area with two other secondary schools, Luttrellstown Community College and Edmund Rice College. To address the school places crisis at that stage, the school management team in CCC and the board of management agreed to a long-term increase in the overall number in the school, going up to eight classes per year with 240 students per year. That was a big step to take but meeting the needs of the local community has always been central to CCC's ethos. In order to facilitate this extension to have the physical space for these extra students, there was an agreement. The school would immediately start to take the additional eighth class. Some temporary accommodation would be provided in the short term but a permanent new-build extension to the school would also be provided. This would include seven mainstream classrooms, one music room, one design and computer graphics room, one home economics room, one graphics room, two engineering-construction studies rooms, two special education classrooms and two special education tuition rooms. It was a big investment in the school but it was absolutely necessary to meet the needs of the extra students the school had committed to take each year. Now, years after that agreement, this vital extension is still only at stage one, preliminary design, of the Department's process. That is what the Minister told me in response to a parliamentary question in late July. This lack of progress has become a real issue because the school is currently looking to issue offers for incoming first-year students in September 2027. Due to the constraints of the physical size of the school building right now, and because the outgoing year group only had seven streams of 210 students, the school only has room to offer 210 places for September next year. The starting point is down 30 places from the 240 students it had been able to offer places for in recent years. The school has received 590 applications for September 2027. This year, there are more students with siblings which means they fall into the first category, which is category A. Category B, where the majority of applications come from - students who go to a feeder school and live within the catchment area - are not guaranteed to receive a place. Parents and students in that category will receive letters saying they did not get a place and are on what could be a very lengthy waiting list. What is frustrating is the school took on those extra students and that extra class in good faith. This could all have been avoided if that extension had been progressed at place. Will the new build for CCC be prioritised? The school fulfilled its part of the bargain; it has taken on the additional students. Now, the Department has to step up and fulfil its side of that bargain. What is the timeline for delivery of the new build? Is the Department aware of the real pressure this school is under for places in September 2027? Is it looking at any contingency measures to ensure students can get a place in a local secondary school?

I dtús báire, gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist seo a ardú mar tugann sé deis dom achoimre a thabhairt don Dáil ar an seasamh reatha maidir leis an bplean tógála scoile do Choláiste Pobail Chaisleán Cnucha. This project was approved under the Department's additional school accommodation scheme and has been devolved to the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board for delivery. The project will provide seven additional mainstream classrooms, six specialist classrooms, a two-classroom special educational needs base, two special education teaching rooms and ancillary accommodation. The project is currently at stage 1, preliminary design. The stage 1 report has been submitted to the Department and is under review from a technical and cost perspective. As with all school building projects, progression to the next stage is subject to the completion of the necessary technical, scope, design and cost assessments, as well as overall programme priorities and available funding. All school building projects, as they progress through the pipeline, must undergo the necessary due diligence outlined in the infrastructure guidelines and capital works management framework. The timing of a project moving from one stage to the next requires careful planning and takes account of factors, such as compliance with all scope, design and cost requirements, timing of affordability and the prioritisation necessary for the school building programme to remain within agreed annual funding allocations. The Department keeps post-primary school provision in the Castleknock and Carpenterstown school planning area under ongoing review, taking account of demographic trends, enrolment patterns and available school capacity. Current projections indicate that the population of first-year students resident in the Castleknock and Carpenterstown school planning areas will remain relatively stable over the coming years, and that sufficient capacity for first-year exists within the school planning area to meet projected demand. While Castleknock Community College has reduced the number of first-year places advertised for the 2027-28 school year, this is not expected to impact on the availability of school places for students resident within the Castleknock and Carpenterstown school planning areas. Analysis of enrolment patterns indicates that the majority of students attending Castleknock Community College reside within these areas, with a proportion also travelling from neighbouring school planning areas. Any reduction in intake at Castleknock Community College may increase demand for places in other schools, including Luttrellstown Community College. However, sufficient capacity remains available within the wider area to accommodate projected enrolments. In addition, further post-primary capacity is planned at Castleknock Community College to cater for future population growth arising from the planned residential development, particularly within the Kellystown area of Carpenterstown. The Department will continue to monitor demographic trends and school place requirements to ensure that sufficient capacity is available to meet future demand.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I will make a couple of points on that. I am not convinced that demand for secondary school places has plateaued as her Department is arguing, particularly when we look at the fifth and sixth classes that are outgoing at the moment. Even if it were stable, we have to remember 30 places have been taken off the pitch this year. There is a reduction in the number of places that Castleknock Community College has available to it next September. Thirty places is a big chunk out of it, considering the school was just able to provide offers to category A and category B students last year, and we now have more students in the sibling category A. Regarding additional post-primary capacity as planned in Castleknock, there is another school planned in the very long term. However, when the State cannot deliver an extension to an existing school, telling parents that there will be a new school built at some time on a greenfield site is not going to convince anybody and is certainly not going to address the challenge we are facing this coming September. When we are investing State money, we absolutely have to go through the due diligence and the technical process but agreements need to be met as well. Commitments need to be fulfilled. A commitment was made here. The school went out on a limb to deal with a major crisis that myself and other Deputies in Dublin 15 were dealing with a number of years ago. There was an agreement to support the school with this extra build. That extra build is still at stage 1. We all know how long these processes take within the Department and stage 1 is not a good place to be in. Will the Minister go back to her officials and ask them to drive forward this new-build project? There will be real pressure this year and in future years on secondary school places in the Carpenterstown area.

It is worth noting that four additional mainstream classrooms and two science laboratories were delivered to Castleknock Community College in 2023, pending the delivery of the larger additional school accommodation, ASA, project. I assure the Deputy that my Department will continue to progress the ASA project in line with the school building programme. Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil arís leis an Teachta as an deis a thabhairt dom an t-eolas is déanaí a chur ar fáil don Teach maidir le tionscadal cóiríochta Choláiste Pobail Chaisleán Cnucha. My Department is committed to ensuring appropriate accommodation is available for all pupils and will, in the wider context outlined, ensure that each school project on the school building programme is subject to the due diligence required under the Government's infrastructure guidelines and capital works management framework. As outlined, current projections indicate that sufficient first-year places are available to meet local demand in the Castleknock and Carpenterstown area. The Department remains committed to forward planning for future growth. It is constantly monitoring demographics and pressures in relation to school planning areas and will continue to invest in school infrastructure to ensure that school place provision keeps apace with demographic change. Since 2020, the Department of Education and Youth has provided €2.1 billion in capital funding for Dublin schools. Over this period, a total of 316 schools have been upgraded, either through the provision of a new school building, large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation. The accommodation needs at Castleknock Community College will be considered as part of the ongoing overall Department-led prioritisation process in consultation with the school patron and the school authorities.