I have been contacted by dozens of parents of children attending St. Mary's Boys National School in Lucan. The school has been approved for a project to deliver four mainstream classrooms, five special education rooms and the repurposing of an existing space. Overall, this is welcome. However, parents have raised concerns with me that this will take a section of the school's playing pitch. As the Taoiseach knows, green space is vitally important to our young people. The school has submitted an alternative application that would see an existing prefab being replaced and all special classes integrated into a single modular building. This would be more streamlined and cost-effective, but crucially, it would save the school's pitch. The Department has informed me that it would not be able take this into consideration at this time. Sometimes bureaucracy gets in the way of a common-sense and even cost-effective approach. Will the Taoiseach speak to the Department and ask it to consider this alternative, common-sense approach?

Sentiment score: 0.28