As Deputy Ellis has said, this is an incredible school. It is incredibly popular and it does an amazing job. Unfortunately, the principal of that school recently met Deputy Hearne, Deputy Ellis and me to ask the question, "To be, or not to be". The school is at stage 2B and the question is whether it will progress. What is proposed is fantastic. We are talking about 15 classrooms and 15 other rooms, including science labs, construction rooms, technology rooms and special education facilities. It is disappointing that the school is not on the priority list. The Tánaiste has given some indication that other projects will be funded. St. Aidan's and a number of other projects in our area need to be on the list the Department is progressing. We also need to make sure that there is no delay in terms of the school's ability to plan and design the project. Can other elements of the project be progressed while they are waiting for the final construction phase? The school community, the principal and the parents are really passionate about this project. They want it to happen because they know the difference it will make.

Sentiment score: 0.16

I echo what Deputy Ellis has said. To reinforce the point, this is a very constrained site. It is quite compact. There is a portion of it that is owned by the religious order where housing is actually being developed. In the wider Santry area, it is very positive that we have more housing supply but there is an increasing population. Around the corner on the Swords Road, the Department of education has planned two 1,000-pupil secondary schools. This morning at the Committee of Public Accounts, the Secretary General of the Department of education said there were opportunities to include additional projects. St. Aidan's should be one of those.

Sentiment score: 0.07