I raise the new school building for Coláiste an Phiarsaigh. To be clear, I taught there once upon a time. I was also a former student there for six years, so I have a vested interest in this relatively big school building programme. I am asking for a clear update. It seems to be stuck at the 2b lottery stage, which I know is frustrating for many TDs. A lot of these building projects are frequently stuck in this phase 2b. This is just another example. This school has a remarkable story. It opened in 1973 with only 20 students and six teachers. It had no building. Classes were held in a rented Church of Ireland premises in the village of Glenmire. They had, in the words of those who were there, neither "cailc nó clár dubh", no chalk or blackboard. From that beginning, it has grown into one of the most successful Irish-medium schools in the country, with nearly 600 students and more than 60 staff. It consistently ranks as one of the best in terms of its academic achievement. The new building promised for this school is not a modest one. As I said, it is a fairly large extension. It would make Coláiste an Phiarsaigh the largest Gaelscoil in Ireland, with a new sports hall, indoor running track and wellness suite. The students in the school, through the students' council, advocated for it to have a carbon-neutral design, with has been built into the design of the school. In September 2023, the school community was told that construction would begin within 18 months. That timeline has now passed and families in Glenmire deserve to know why and what the revised position is. Glenmire is one of the fastest growing suburbs in Cork. The demand for Irish-medium education is only going in one direction. The students currently in first year will be sitting their leaving certificate before too long. They should not spend their entire secondary education waiting for a building they were told was imminent. I am asking for the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, to set out plainly the current stage of this project, when it is anticipated it will go to construction and when the doors of the new school will open. I have been involved with this school building project over the past five years. We have had senior Ministers visit, as well as the Taoiseach, cutting ribbons and launching plans. The expectation is quite high that this will be delivered in a timely manner. I understand the significant difficulties in the Department of education and the overspend. They are glaringly obvious for all of us. That said, big projects like this need to be delivered. When I attended Coláiste an Phiarsaigh as a student, half the school campus was in prefabs, and some of those very same prefabs are still there today. The Minister of States knows the way this can go. There has been some improvement with other updated modular units over the past few years but the reason they are getting this big project is that half the school footprint is, in essence, modular. This will replace it with bricks and mortar. This is something that has been long awaited. I genuinely hope that there is something the Minister of State will tell me which will illuminate things for me, although I will be dubious about it. It is high time we were straight with people in Glanmire and set out a timeline for when this project is likely to be delivered.

Sentiment score: 0.09

Unfortunately, I do not have my date. I get that we have invested an awful lot in infrastructure and education over the last few years. That is undeniable. I was struck by a couple of phrases the Minister of State used, including "affordability" and "value for money". We have all been in this House long enough to know that the longer we wait to do these projects, they more inflated the price becomes given the way the current market is. If we leave this another year, it could easily add another 10%, if not more, to the price of this school. Unfortunately, I think we are going to be waiting much longer than a year, judging by what the statement the Minister of State read out. I get that there is a €700 million overspend in the budget for the Department of education. The Department of public expenditure needs to talk to the Department of education and problems need to be worked through. The Department has to stay within the budget but, at the same time, this is not a problem that just emerged. While it is fair enough that the project only got planning last year, as I said, the prefabs have been there for 25 or 30 years. This build is largely to replace those prefabs. We have another good story on the site in question. The people who established the school own the land around it. The Minister for the Gaeltacht, Deputy Calleary, is looking at turning an old building into a cultúrlann and have it as a real Irish-language hub in the centre of Glanmire. It would largely meet the needs of the Irish language community in Cork city. A lot of exciting things are happening with this project on this site, but they are all going to be held up because we are waiting for the school. Nothing else can happen until the school has initiated. I can only make the case for my constituency, as we all do here for our constituencies. This school will be the largest Gaelcholáiste in the country when it is built. That is at a time when officials in the Department would tell us that numbers in Gaelscoileanna normally do not exceed 600 or 700. This school could easily cater for 1,200 students, such is the demand.

Sentiment score: 0.03