Carers across Ireland are the backbone of our healthcare system, saving the State an estimated €20 billion annually. Despite this massive contribution, they remain undervalued and pushed to the brink due to systemic failure to provide adequate respite. Respite is not a luxury. It is a fundamental necessity that prevents burnout, protects mental health and ensures the most vulnerable in our society receive sustainable long-term care. Organisations such as Ability West do fantastic work supporting families in the local area, and do their very best with the resources they have, but the reality is that in County Galway many parents of children with disabilities simply cannot access respite because of the lack of capacity and funding. The responsibility for this lies with the Government. One parent has told me of how she has been fighting for overnight respite for her son with high care needs for some time. She informed me that no availability exists because he needs two-to-one care and his needs are too high. She said the system is very broken if the children with the highest level of needs are getting turned away. Another parent told me of her 12-year-old son who is non-verbal and autistic and has an intellectual disability. He attends respite at St. Teresa's respite house in Ballinasloe run by Ability West. She stressed that the staff there are exceptional and the care provided is invaluable but this support is already extremely limited with access only twice a month. At present respite services have effectively been withdrawn due to a child requiring a crisis placement. While this child absolutely deserves appropriate care and support, the reality is that one child's crisis has resulted in other vulnerable children and families losing a service they depend on and this should never be allowed to happen. The situation has become so uncertain that although her son was offered a respite night this Saturday, she was warned he may have to be collected at any stage with little notice if issues arise. For her this is not respite but instability. She said that respite is one of the few places where he feels safe, secure and understood, and faced with the risk of this safety being disrupted she has had to make the difficult decision not to send him. No parent should be put in a position where they must choose between getting a break and protecting their child from a potentially distressing experience. These are just two examples but they reflect the experiences of many families and many carers when it comes to accessing respite. Many parents are unable to access any support for their children. Many have to travel very long distances to access care. I have been told that out of 40 children who attend St. Oliver's Special School in Tuam only two can get respite at St. Teresa's in Ballnasloe. There is no overnight respite for children in the Tuam area, which Ability West has raised with me previously. Ability West has indicated a willingness to expand services, including the development of an after-school respite programme at St. Oliver's school in Tuam but the main barriers are funding and support. What will the Government do to increase funding for respite services in County Galway to support the expansion of services? When will this happen? As I have said, parents have been left waiting for years and years in many cases and they deserve much better.

I thank Deputy O'Hara. The Minister, Deputy Foley, thanks him for raising this important issue and I will respond on her behalf. The HSE is very much aware of the importance of respite service provision for the families of children with disabilities and the impact the absence of respite service provision can have on other services being delivered. As Deputy O'Hara said, respite is a vital support for families and service users, and potentially helps to prevent out-of-home full-time residential placement. Respite also helps to preserve the family unit and supports family stability. In this respect, respite is a key priority area for the HSE for people with disabilities and their families. The increased investment in respite services in recent years has impacted positively on the level of service delivered in successive years. From 2022 to 2025, overnight respite provision increased by 26% while the number of day-only sessions more than doubled in the same period. The HSE project, while adjusting for data gaps, will be above target for the full year for respite activity in 2025. About 7,500 people avail periodically of centre-based respite, with regional disparities in access to the service and overall unmet need. Budget 2026 provides €25 million additional funding for respite expansion, supporting close to 10,000 additional overnight and 25,000 additional day respite sessions. I am pleased to share with Deputy O'Hara that a number of new respite initiatives are under way in Galway, which add to the breadth of respite services available this year. Resilience Ireland is developing a new children's respite service, which will provide valuable support to families in this region. Ability West, and I agree with Deputy O'Hara on the great work it does, is establishing a new centre-based respite service in Tuam, providing critical access to respite for young adults in the area. There are also plans for a range of respite initiatives across Galway city and county over the summer period. This will involve a range of activities, including coding, sporting events and summer camps. To provide some figures for respite funding provision for County Galway, from 2018 funding has increased by more than €53,000 to €149,000. This is an increase of approximately 275% over the seven-year period. The number of people in receipt of respite over the same period has increased by approximately 24%. In the national service plan for 2026 the HSE has committed to investing €25 million in respite services.

I welcome any additional investment and the plans the Minister of State has outlined for Tuam and elsewhere. I would make the point that proper respite care is the very least we should be able to provide in a very wealthy country for our most vulnerable citizens, their families and those who care for them. The Minister and her Department must ensure this happens. There is no excuse for having a system that is under-resourced and not meeting the needs of vulnerable children and their families. We clearly still need to go further because many of the parents who are in touch with me are simply not getting the services they need. I ask that there continues to be specific engagement on this issue with the likes of Ability West and supporting the proposals it has and that the Minister of State outlined, particularly for the likes of after-school respite and things like that, which can make a big difference for people. I also ask for specific funding for the area of crisis placements to be considered so that the emergency cases, such as those I outlined earlier, do not displace others from their planned respite. These are the kinds of assurances the families in touch with me are looking for because, as I said, for them respite is not a luxury but is absolutely essential. The risk of burn-out is real without it. The Toghermore campus in Tuam provides a real opportunity through equine therapy to provide another form of respite to families and to bring real benefits to children with disabilities. That opportunity must be taken by the Government. Locally, we expect to see that project being progressed. I know that Ability West is very keen to work with the Government and the HSE on this. I also want to mentioned the Before We Die campaign. There are obviously significant issues with the lack of space in residential care. I have constituents who cannot access full-time residential care for a loved one who has an intellectual disability and who desperately needs it. We must do much better for our vulnerable citizens. They are being failed.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is a priority for the Minister, Deputy Foley, the Department and the whole Government. I agree that respite services are essential for people with disabilities and their families. The Government is committed to the continued expansion and development of respite services, as set out in the programme for Government and the new National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. To support the HSE in its work to provide and develop respite services and in recognition of the importance of support for disabled people and their families, budget 2026 provided significant additional funding to support respite service expansion in 2026. As I said earlier, there is €25 million in additional funding. That funding will be used to support a range of service openings and expansions across the country, including a range of respite initiatives over the summer period. There will be a particular focus on strengthening provision in areas that currently have a lower level of supports. I heard what the Deputy said about crisis funding and its importance and I will bring that to the attention of the Minister because it is a crucial issue for many families. There is the real risk of burn-out for families. The Deputy mentioned the equine centre. This is not contained in the response I have before me but I remember visiting the equine centre in Ability West and the excellent work done there. I will mention that to the Minister.

We have three exceptional special schools in Kildare North, namely, St. Raphael's Special School in Celbridge, Stepping Stones Special School in Maynooth and Sapling Special School in Kill. Indeed, the Minister of State met the school management of Stepping Stones this day last week, and I thank him for his work and engagement. It is much appreciated. In recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of special schools throughout the country and, under the leadership of the Minister of State, we have seen an increase in the number of special classes in mainstream education. This ensures that children get equal access to education and equal opportunity regardless of their background and perspective. All children who go to a special school or are in a special classroom have goals that are set out at the beginning of the year for them to achieve by the end of the year. There are some students who go through the junior cycle profile of achievement, JCPA. There is level 1 and level 2. This affords students in special schools the ability to have a level 1 or level 2 certificate at the end of completing the junior cycle. That is crucial for those young people when some of them want to go into the workplace in the future. It also provides a great sense of achievement and pride, not just for the student but for their families and the entire school community. At present, schools must manually generate JCPA certificates. The Department does not hold independent completion records of the students who have completed the JCPA and certificates are not automatically issued. As a result, junior cycle completion in special schools depends entirely on school level administration, unlike mainstream settings. The deputy principal in St. Raphael's in Celbridge was in touch with me about the lack of meaningful junior certificate recognition for their students and the increased administrative burdens on school staff. We made a representation on the issue and the Department was in touch with the school one week after we raised it. Certificates will be issued to last year's students. However, it should not be up to the schools to issue certificates. It should not be up to me or anybody else to contact the Department about these certificates being issued. It is about due process, fairness, equality and recognising the work and effort of the students, the staff and the families who have helped the students get to that point. There are some other concerns about some of the content that teachers have been recommended to teach. Staff have raised concerns about some of the material, which can be infantilising and quite childish for students who are 12- or 13-year-olds, or older. Those staff feel there needs to be more of an acknowledgement that every child's development and learning journey is very different, and that needs to be acknowledged. Some are more developed in certain ways than others, and that needs to be acknowledged. The main issue is that students deserve recognition equal in dignity to their peers. That does not only apply to special schools. Now that we see the increased opening of special classes in mainstream secondary schools, it is important for those students to feel equal to their peers in the year. Ensuring they have a certificate to show that is part of it. As I said, it would mean they could go into meaningful employment in the future and have something to show for it.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. If he does not mind, I will depart a little from the script with which I have been provided. It is hugely important. We are talking about inclusion and making sure we get the best possible education for children with additional needs as they go through primary and post-primary school. As the Deputy rightly said, we are announcing more special classes. We are really trying to make the education system fit for purpose in meeting the needs of students with additional needs. As with other countries, we have seen the need growing across Ireland and the OECD. I have said many times that I shudder to think what is happening in the undeveloped countries. We are really trying to come to terms with it. The Deputy mentioned St. Raphael's, Stepping Stones and Saplings special schools. I met representatives of Stepping Stones last week. I meet representatives of special schools regularly and have been to a huge number of such schools across the country. I applaud the work that is being done in the special schools and in special education, in particular. The Deputy mentioned special schools and I have met their representatives. From this week on, I will be having a number of regional meetings with the principals of special schools right across the country. We are starting an engagement process in Sligo on Friday. It will be right across the country. We will be meeting the leadership in special schools to get an understanding of the challenges that are being faced. The Deputy raised the issue of the State exams and certification. It is hugely important that we have uniformity at the very core. The Deputy mentioned his representation in relation to certificates being issued. That is simply not good enough. We have to make sure for the student cohort who are going to special schools. A huge amount of work is being done in the schools and by families to equip students for life after school with the best possible engagement and fulfilment they can have in the life they lead. If we are true to the word "inclusion", we must include everybody. A lot of work has gone on in relation to designing the junior certificate and, indeed, the leaving certificate at the special school level. It is important we ensure that at the end of that process, it is the very same for the students who are going to the special school, in that the certificate is issued and we work through the various challenges to make sure they are on the same level as their peers in mainstream education. It is something we are looking at very closely. I intend to make sure that happens. It is not the case for public representatives; I know the Deputy is deeply invested in special education. He has spoken to me many times over the last 12 or 14 months or so in relation to the challenges that are being faced, and I appreciate that. We had a very successful visit to the Deputy's part of County Kildare recently. I actually saw first-hand the excellent work that has been done in some of the school communities there, which I mentioned in various discussions we have had not alone in the Department but in the wider sphere as well. To address the Deputy's point, it is important that the student cohort who are going to special schools earn the same recognition as any of their peers. We have to ensure that the certificates are generated and issued within the State exams system within the Department. I can assure the Deputy that it is something we need to address because it is an issue that has arisen. We are working on it, and we have a lot of work done in designing the various schemes over the past while to have it student focused as well. It is something I intend to take very seriously.

I thank the Minister of State for his response and, indeed, as I mentioned at the beginning, his hard work in this area. There has been a marked improvement in special education in the country since he took on the role as Minister of State for special education. I commend him on that. I want to thank him as well for his continued engagement because I have been raising issues with him continuously and he has always engaged in an open, fair and constructive way, and I think many people across the House will say the same. I am not going to go over to previous points but what I would like to do and as I always do on a Topical Issue matter, parliamentary question or oral parliamentary questions, is try to come up with proposed solutions. We can all identify problems, but actually identifying the solutions is the key aspect we should be doing a little bit more of as public representatives. The first solution I have is automatic certification, that is, introducing a centrally triggered junior certificate profile of achievement process for all junior cycle students, including level 1 and level 2. The second is a clear national certificate to develop a recognisable certificate of junior cycle completion for level 1 and 2 pathways, issued directly by the Department. Finally, we need a review for parity of esteem to examine junior cycle certification arrangements in special schools and address the perceived structural inequality. Those three steps would go a long way to solving this. Maybe it does not seem like a huge issue to a lot of people but for those going through special education, particularly with the increase in special classes in mainstream, it will become more of an issue. It is just about due recognition for hard work and the effort made by the students, their families and the school community.

The Department is keenly aware of it. There is always room for improvement and we are very understanding of that. We are challenged every day to make sure the education system is improving into the future right across the education system and, indeed, for special education as well. What we are going to invest in special education now will have huge benefits for students, families and society in the long term. I firmly believe that it will give a greater understanding. Parity of esteem is one thing, and automatic certification is hugely important. We have to stand back and say that students who are going through special schools or special education must have parity of esteem with their peers. At the core of inclusion is ensuring students have the same rights and attainability and ensuring the best possible outcomes when they go beyond school. We did introduce some funding this year for the transition period from schools to adulthood. That is something I would be very keen to address. I addressed it again last night during Private Members' business. I take the Deputy's points. I can assure him that this is something we will very much take on board. We will work very closely with the Deputy in relation to this. I am very keen to see automatic certification. The key phrase is "parity of esteem" so that everybody is treated equally and we understand and acknowledge the work that is being done by students, their families and the school communities and give recognition to that. I will work on that with the Deputy. I thank him for his engagement and his interest in special education over the last while. As I said, it is important that we, as Members of the House, continue to advocate on behalf of the most vulnerable because it is by that we will be judged.

The Government seriously needs to reassess and reconfirm its commitment to imminently provide the full extension and refurbishment project promised to Lucan Community College going back to 2010. We are talking about dedicated classrooms for children with special educational needs, physical education space and refurbishment. The current piecemeal solution of a reduced phase 1 and temporary repurposing of some rooms for special educational needs and reviewing the situation in relation to the originally promised phases 2, 3 and 4 is not satisfactory. Lucan Community College has a long and illustrious history in my constituency. It goes back to the vocational education committee, VEC, in the 1950s on the Lucan Newlands Road. By 1997, with population increases, the new Lucan Community College was established on its current location in Esker Drive under what is known today as the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board, DDLETB. This school rapidly gained a reputation as a centre of excellence, so much so that it started to need lotteries for places at a very early stage. Today, even acknowledging the deficit of second level school places and the fact that the Department is always behind the curve in providing places, it is the co-educational school of choice in Lucan. Lucan Community College has always been massively oversubscribed. Parents and children want to go to this institution because of the quality of teaching and the depth of its curriculum. When it started out in the new building in 1997, it was a state-of-the-art facility. However, it soon found itself needing to increase its intake. It has approximately 956 pupils today. Its capacity has not matched that increase in population. Different parts of the school started deteriorating over time - stuff that could not be fixed with summer work schemes and other tranches of funding. It is now overcrowded. It needs a major extension and significant refurbishment. These days, parents apply to get their kids into the school in spite of, not because of, the facilities of the school. I have been told by several exasperated parents who have more than one child in the school that this is the case. They know that the school facility is not great but that the teachers are fantastic. A lot more is needed, but the Department is dragging its heels. To put it in context, I first heard about this and I was raising Dáil questions in previous terms going back to 2007 when it was gradually moving towards the architectural planning stage in 2010. However, it took several more years to get the design and the planning permission in and it dragged on to 2020-21 when, eventually, it started moving towards the tender. In 2024, however, there was a delay in terms of issuing letters of intent. The school felt huge relief when this finally came through. They thought the extension was finally coming but last summer, in replies to parliamentary questions, it was indicated by the predecessor of the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, that due to the length of time between planning and construction, there was going to be a review of the project. Everyone thought this was going to involve tweaking and shaving stuff off because we know the costs have increased but no, the plan was now to build a modular building that was well insulated and long lasting, etc., but on a much smaller footprint, with no indication of what is going into the original footprint and over what period of time. Phases 2, 3 and 4 are very opaque. There is no transparency. No one knows exactly what is going to happen. We need a commitment today that phases 2, 3 and 4, because we are talking about modular builds, can be designed and put into the current footprint, if that is possible, or if it needs a new planning application, that process can start so that in a matter of a year or 18 months, we can move on.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. If memory serves, in a previous incarnation in a previous life, he raised this issue at an education committee. That is going back some time. I thank him for raising and outlining the issue in relation to Lucan Community College. The Department of Education and Youth is progressing the delivery of a large timber frame modular extension to Lucan Community College. The project will deliver nine additional classrooms, a science laboratory and preparation area and a design and technical graphics room. Construction has already commenced on site. This delivery method and model of construction offers an extremely high quality, carbon-friendly building, combined with fast delivery. The Department officials are engaging with the school patron, the Dublin-Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board, and the school authorities in relation to progressing this accommodation. They remain available to provide support on this project, including the scope for repurposing some of the existing classrooms for special education provision. The National Council for Special Education is engaging with the school authorities in this regard and, of course, the Department has a repurposing scheme which provides €30,000 for start-up grants for each new special class and up to €70,000 for repurposing existing accommodation for special classes. The Deputy will be aware we recently published €7.55 billion in sectoral investment for education across the education system, and a lot of that is due to a strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritising school building projects which meet the most urgent need. In this regard, there will be a strong special education dimension to projects being rolled out. The Deputy mentioned the families in the school. There is a project being moved ahead, which I outlined in earlier comments. We, in the Department, will continue to work with the school authorities and the patron body, Dublin-Dún Laoghaire ETB, to ensure needs are met within the Lucan area. We see a huge amount of investment going into school building projects across the country. Over the past five or six years, extraordinary funding has been spent on them. However, when it comes to individual schools - as I indicated, this project has been discussed for a long time, going back a number of years to when the Deputy first mentioned it at meetings - it is important we continue to liaise. This first phase of it is on-site. This allows us to get very good high-spec projects built, and to get them delivered in faster time. We have seen many challenges in relation to projects going on too long. I will endeavour to liaise with Department officials in the planning and building unit to ensure the entire need of the school community, not just this building project but the entire need, is met. I thank the school authorities for their engagement with the National Council for Special Education and the Department in relation to provision of special education, which is a huge core in any building projects we are doing, that is, to ensure we have a provision for special education. I will endeavour to ensure the Department and Lucan Community College continue to liaise so that the needs of the school community and the community at large are met in any new developments.

The school has had to take the decision to subdivide rooms and to move students in order to have special educational needs classes in a setting that is not going to disturb students. I will give a few quotes from parents. Parents have said that every month that passes is actively harming children, that the school is not fit for purpose, that children with additional needs have been failed despite explicit promises and that children are stressed, more constrained and are falling behind through no fault of their own. There is confusion in terms of earlier responses from the Minister, Deputy Naughton, which said that phase 1 would include special educational needs classrooms but now it does not. Another parent said that it is entirely unclear as to the process and that the lack of transparency here is atrocious. Another very concerning thing is that because of the overcrowding in the school, on a number of occasions students have been found eating their lunches in toilets when it is raining because they have nowhere inside to go. The staff do not allow this and they are told to move as quickly as possible but some of them go in there because there are radiators and it is a warm places to eat. That is not acceptable in 2026. This is the level of the conditions the students are being forced to endure. There are no areas for kids to have extracurricular activities and to meet and have casual chats that make school days, days to remember. It is all about into class and out of class. There is no room to engage and have that quality of life in the school environment. It is heartbreaking to see this for the children. What we need are firm commitments in respect of the phase 1 modular building, the timber framed and well-insulated building. That is all well and good but in the original outline of the building, can we get clear answers from the Department that phase 2 can be commenced very quickly, because it is modular? The same goes for phases 3 and 4. Can these be designed and planned so they can go in a lot quicker and that in 18 months to two years, we can see the buildings?

I thank the Deputy for outlining the challenges within the school community as well. It is important we have the best possible school environment for all students. Every student, no matter what their ability, must have a positive experience within the school. Phase 1 of the project is on-site and for delivery. The quality of the building going in is top class, as I understand it. That is moving at pace. The Deputy is looking for clarity in relation to how we are going to do the next phases of the project. I will liaise with the planning and building unit in the Department and with the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to ensure we get clarity for the school community, the school authorities, the ETB and the parents and students as fast as possible in relation to phases 2 and 3 and the building of it. I will endeavour to do that. I take the points the Deputy raised in relation to the toilets and so forth very seriously. They do not rest easy with me. I will bring those points back to the Department and ask it to liaise with the Deputy in relation to the next phases. It is important the phase that is under way is completed as a matter of urgency because it shows that we intend to invest in Lucan Community College now but also into the future so that we best serve the future needs of the school and the community. I will endeavour to do that.

We are talking about two schools here - the junior and senior schools. All the TDs in the constituency have visited the schools, and we are all of the same mind that work needs to move ahead. In 2011, the Department agreed to two extensions to the junior and senior schools. In 2014, there was a visit to the schools, and the Department felt it was necessary for a rebuild. Ever since, the school authorities have been trying to get the schools built. There is mould, water running down walls, water dripping from the ceiling and tiles collapsing, and the list goes on. Clearly, it is not an ideal situation for hundreds of school children and their teachers in the school. What we are looking for is action relation to this. It has gone on long enough. The parents and school community feel they have been let down and left behind. It just shows how long it takes for a new build to be built. The Department said that it was necessary for this to happen.

This is very simple. The school building, as it is, is simply not fit for continued use. There are serious health and safety concerns. When we visited there was very clearly water still coming through and sitting on top of tiles. You could see water coming in beside an interactive electric panel, which clearly represented a danger. A couple of years ago there was a partial ceiling collapse while children were in a class. There is mould. It is simply not suitable as it is. What is frustrating is this was recognised in May 2014. An architect appointed by the Department of education recommended a complete rebuild for both schools yet we still do not have substantial progress. This has been a real saga, the latest step being in July of last year when full 2a plans were submitted by the school. It still has no formal acknowledgement of that or a timeline for that. We know the Department got it. I asked the officials at the public accounts committee last week and they acknowledged they have it but it is simply not acceptable. The school is looking for a meeting with the Minister and the officials to map out a timeline to ensure these children get a suitable school building as soon as possible.

As my colleagues have said, there are three of us here from the constituency but it is fair to say the five TDs in our constituency support the school in this regard. There is a short-term and long-term need in the school. The short-term need is to get an emergency grant to fix this roof, which is badly leaking. Almost daily water is dripping into classrooms and leaving pools. When we were there one of the classrooms was referred to as the Amazon rainforest by the students because of the rain coming down. There are buckets in classrooms and it is destroying the children's work, at times. Teachers cannot have any desks in that area. The panels on the roof collapsed on parents during a parent-teacher meeting. It is happening during school hours and the management cannot really predict where these collapses are going to happen. In the short term the roof needs to be done. As for the longer term, the Department approached the school in 2011 about adding 20 new classrooms. After three years, the Department's architect suggested a whole new rebuild. As Deputy Murphy said, that was in 2014. We are 12 years on from that and the school just wants to push the project along and that is what it is looking for now.

I thank the Deputies for raising the issue. I compliment them as constituency TDs because nearly every issue they raise is done on a cross-party basis. It is great to see it because education is so important. It is very important to be unified. We have had a number of issues with the Deputies we are working on but it is important to acknowledge the co-operation they have on this. This shows me the challenges there are in relation to the school and the decision that was taken. A major project for the school was to build 20 mainstream classrooms along with additional classrooms for special education needs and associated work. This project is currently at stage 2a of architectural planning, where the preferred design option is developed to a stage where the project can be fully cost planned, and prepared to lodge for statutory approvals. The Department received that submission in July 2025 and a detailed review is ongoing. Part of the submission review will include a stakeholders meeting between the school authorities, design team and project manager, which will be held once the stage 2a report has been reviewed. It is important because that is the crucial piece. We have that report a number of months at this stage and, as Deputy Murphy quite rightly said, the officials confirmed to him we have it, so we need to move that on to the next stage. What is exasperating people in many of the questions I am answering here on an ongoing basis is the delay in getting school buildings beyond the design and the initial thoughts. The Deputies have demonstrated quite clearly there is need for this school and the Department has accepted it going back over a decade or so. It is important we move with the submission that is there. On the immediate issue with the roof, I wish to clarify if there is an application in for emergency works for that. I will endeavour to go back to that application to see where that is at rather than give lip service to it in the Chamber. I understand the seriousness of it because of the co-operation between the Deputies. I will endeavour to find out where the submission is at, how soon we can get that reviewed and on to all the stakeholders. There is a lot of detailed planning that goes in to ensure we are getting the best possible outcome. The Government has committed a huge amount of funding over the past number of years and into the future to school buildings across the country. At school visits I have made, we have often see there are major challenges with the buildings. I will go back to the Department and ensure the submission received in July is reviewed in a timely manner and that engagement is brought back to the stakeholders, including the school authorities, project manager and so on. I will endeavour as well to ensure I can report back to the three Deputies on where the current application for emergency works is.

The school's most optimistic expectation is that it will take more than four years from the green light through to completion. Can we really stand here and say we cannot build two sets of classrooms and a new school within 12 years? It is just not acceptable. Children in Tallaght are being left behind. That is clearly what is happening. What message does that send to the children in these schools that it has taken 12 years? The Minister of State talks of repairing the roof but it is not repairable. That is what the school is telling us. It is unacceptable. We need some action here. We are asking for at least a meeting with the Minister and the officials.

There is lots in the roof report carried out by Morris Roofing and Cladding. The key point is the roof has gone beyond economic repair due to its nearly 50 years of age. The fundamental problem is the school is over 50 years old and needs a new replacement building. That is not just the opinion of some teachers, students or parents but of the architect originally appointed by the Department 12 years ago. There is an additional issue in that when the new school building opens, there will be 36 extra places in special classes, which obviously for the children in the area, and for the Minister of State given his particular responsibilities, is an extra reason to get this happening as quickly as possible. I re-emphasise the point about a meeting with the Minister and officials.

The principal and staff of the school are doing a brilliant job and it is a fabulous school. It is a big school in Old Bawn. There are about 700 or 800 students in it. It is lucky the school has a big site where it will be possible to build the new school at the same time as keeping the existing building going and doing it in phases without the need for additional funding for modular or temporary accommodation for the students. The school can do this project with relative ease on its existing site. We call again for a meeting with the Minister and Department officials to get this thing moving. We all know it has been delayed for too long and there is a real, urgent need here.

With any funding going in from the State to new schools and buildings, it is important we have the special education part of it as well. That is a decision that has been taken by us in the Department to ensure we are accommodating children with additional needs within any new build. I take the point it has been 12 years. There was mention of 2011 and 2014. It has been too long. There is a report in with the Department and I will endeavour to find out where that is at. I also take the point that sometimes we spend an awful lot of time, effort and money to try to patch something up while we are waiting for the essential build. Deputy Crowe mentioned four years until completion. You are looking at a number of cohorts of students who started out thinking this would be completed by the time they were completing school and then it takes another round of students to go through the process again. I will look to have a meeting and serious engagement with the Deputies and the Department of education to ensure we can prioritise this and make sure any road blocks that are in the way are moved but also that we understand the challenges. Right across Dublin it is great to see schools that have space because we are really challenged with space in a lot of Dublin school communities. However, there is space here so we need utilise it and ensure we do that. I will endeavour to find out what is happening with the report that is with the Department since July 2025. I will also endeavour to undertake the Deputies' request. I thank them very much.

Delivering an efficient and accessible public transport system is essential to the daily lives of working people across Dublin city and to meeting our climate objectives. The case for public transport speaks for itself. Every single full bus takes 80 cars off the roads, reducing emissions by over 90% and freeing up 300 m of roadway. Week after week, however, I hear from northsiders that they have simply given up taking the bus, not because they do not want to use it but because they cannot afford to trust it. They cannot rely on it daily. Citizens are experiencing frequent no-shows, last-minute cancellations and long gaps between buses. We still hear on an ongoing basis of ghost buses, services that appear as due on the TFI Live app and on the displays but never arrive. How can we expect commuters to shift to public transport when they are plagued by issues every day? I have spoken about this in the Chamber before, but this situation has become so commonplace in Baile Átha Cliath that a website called buscancellationsdublin.eu has started pulling together the data on cancelled buses. In any other sector or walk of life, this would not be acceptable. Northsiders are just trying to get on with their daily lives, yet they are being let down time and again by Dublin Bus and the National Transport Authority, NTA. The delays cause real distress. People are missing work and medical appointments and struggling to get to childcare commitments. I understand from the CEO of Dublin Bus, Billy Hann, that a new next generation automatic vehicle location, NGAVL, system will be piloted in September. This cannot come soon enough, and I really welcome it. As Mr. Hann has acknowledged, the title “real-time passenger information” is effectively misleading, as the system now is just a countdown from when the bus leaves the depot, with no ability to respond to what happens en route to the bus stop. The next generation AVL system must provide passengers with the reassurance they need and deserve while waiting for a public transport service. The long list of issues I hear concerning the 73, 130 and 15 bus routes in my constituency are underpinned by the simple fact that commuters cannot trust that their bus will even show up. When a service is delayed or full, that is frustrating, but when it does not show up at all, with no explanation and no update, that really undermines public confidence in the system and in public transport as a whole. We cannot settle for this standard of service that people have been forced to tolerate in the last few years. This is even more relevant in the current climate and in the current energy crisis, with the pressure on fuels. It is an opportunity, at one level, to get people out of cars and onto public transport. If we are serious about our climate targets and about building a country where an carr a fhágáil sa bhaile is a genuine choice rather than a gamble, then public transport must be reliable enough from the first minute in the morning to the last minute at night.

I thank the Deputy very much. I welcome his question, which is on an issue that is very topical at the moment. He is right that we need to give people confidence in the public transport system so they will continue to use it for all the very good reasons he spoke about. We are strongly committed in the Government to providing all citizens with reliable and sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, in budget 2026, the Department of Transport secured €940 million in funding for the public service obligation, PSO, and Transport for Ireland, TFI, Local Link services, and a further €980 million in public transport capital investment. Despite this investment, I know that customers can and do encounter issues concerning service cancellations and reliability. Bus cancellations can occur for a variety of reasons, such as issues with the availability of drivers and mechanics causing services not to run to schedule. The NTA has assured me that it is acutely aware of the importance of good-quality information being made available to customers regarding bus departure times and on-street displays. The TFI Live app aims to provide this information. The real-time information displayed on the TFI Live app and on the on-street signs is provided directly by the bus operator responsible for operating the service. The onus is on the transport operator to provide live disruption information if, for unforeseen circumstances, a bus is unable to complete part of its schedule. This information can be relayed to customers using the on-street displays and the TFI Live app. The NTA holds weekly meetings with operators to discuss performance, understand challenges and identify where improvements can be made. In instances where performance drops, financial penalties are rigorously applied. Where a bus does not operate due to circumstances within the operator’s control, a reduction is made in the amount due to the operator equivalent to the cost of operating the cancelled service. The contracts also provide for deductions to be made when punctuality and reliability targets are not met. In relation to the specific issue of vehicle location and tracking information, the NTA awarded Trapeze ITS the contract to develop and implement a next generation automatic vehicle location system for Ireland’s public transport buses. This centralised system will replace the existing fragmented automatic vehicle location systems and will offer better real-time information for passengers. It will enable two-way communication with drivers and monitor the performance of buses against their schedules. The system will also provide tools for service controllers to make interventions, such as curtailment or cancellation of services, and, importantly for customers, will generate the real-time passenger information used in information displays for the public. The next generation automatic vehicle location system project is a centralised, more modern, cloud-based AVL solution to be used by all PSO operators. It consolidates the existing five systems, which are up to 15 years old. This will bring advantages in terms of consistency of data across the operators. The system will be more robust and will have more modern bus control features that will assist bus operators to run services against schedule, providing accurate and reliable data for passengers on real-time displays. The first implementation of this new system in Waterford is due to go live in June and is currently in testing. The system will be rolled out to other operators during the course of 2026 and 2027, including Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Go-Ahead Ireland services.

Go raibh maith agat. I welcome the confirmation that the NTA is taking the issue seriously and progressing plans to modernise the existing system. I welcome the fact it looks at it weekly and has a structure in place in this regard. One thing that does concern me is that at the moment we are very reliant on the operators to share data and to push it into the system. I hope that in the new setup that will happen automatically, rather than there being a reliance on various operators to release data into the system. As much of that process as possible should be automated so that the end user is getting the data without even having to think about it and without having any dependency on an operator, whoever it is. The 73 bus service, which I mentioned earlier, was originally the 123 Imp service. These were smaller yellow and red buses that used to run in and out of the city centre. It was a hugely popular service on the north side. The NTA took a decision to give it to a new operator and rename it the 73 in the autumn of last year. There are ongoing issues with that service. We are awaiting detailed information on the performance of the route from the NTA since early March. We have clarified what we are looking for but we are still waiting for that information. This service is a vital one for that part of the north side. I want to keep it on the agenda until the service works for local citizens. I ask that the Minister of State give the NTA a nudge to publish that information and get it back to us.

I will go back to the NTA regarding the 73 bus service to seek the clarification the Deputy requires. There is no doubt about that. Further to the updates I provided earlier on the next generation automatic vehicle location system and practices by the NTA and bus operators to support a better real-time information system for passengers, I note that a number of actions have been taken that will help to address this issue. These actions include the replacement of older antennas on buses, with close to 800 to be replaced. GPS receiver boards on Dublin Bus services are in the process of being updated, with 300 buses updated to date and the balance to be updated in May of this year. Operational practice has also been modified to help address the issue. The NTA has developed a tool that can be used by Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead Ireland to monitor the efficiency of trip cancellation processes. This will help ensure real-time passenger information takes account of all cancellations as they arise. Finally, as I noted in my opening statement, the new system is planned to go ahead in Waterford in June and the roll-out to the other areas will be taking effect straight away after that, in the rest of 2026 into 2027. It will consolidate the five existing systems, some of which are 15 years old, into one central one. This will bring advantages in terms of consistency of the data that people will get from across all the operators. The system will be robust with more modern bus-control features that will assist the bus operators to run services against schedule and provide accurate and reliable data for passengers on real-time displays. If we have the system correct, the information will be live and people will know. We invest a huge amount of money in public transport but we want to make sure we are generating the confidence in the public so that they can use it.