I thank Deputies Neville and Farrelly for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth. I welcome the opportunity to provide details of the interaction the Department of Education and Youth has had with St. Patrick's Primary School Celbridge in relation to the emergency works scheme and to provide an update on its capital project. As the Deputies will be aware, the purpose of the emergency works scheme is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies or to provide funding to facilitate inclusion and access for pupils with special needs. An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, and a situation which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action. In the case of a school, the situation must be of sufficient gravity whereby, if not corrected, it would prevent the school or part of it from opening. Following an invitation from Deputy Neville, the Minister visited the school in January. She was given a tour of the building before meeting local school leaders and the board of management. During this visit, she was advised by the school that a number of classrooms had been closed and that the building had structural defects. St. Patrick's Primary School has submitted a number of applications for funding under the emergency works scheme for life safety equipment, fabric defects and roof works. The emergency works scheme operates on the basis of a minimal scope of works required to remedy an emergency situation. On this basis, the school was advised to submit a revised scope of works with an accompanying itemised cost breakdown. In January, the Department engaged project engineers and contractors to address the immediate issues. This facilitated the completion of initial remedial works by 5 February, which allowed for classrooms that were closed to reopen. There has been significant engagement with St. Patrick's in relation to the sequencing of works to address the outstanding issues. A written programme update was issued to the school on 9 February. A further update was provided to the school on 24 February. This programme outlined a number of actions which are planned, utilising two modular units which were provided to the school. This will facilitate the temporary decanting of students to allow classrooms works to take place. The sequencing of works is set out to maximise the mid-term break and Easter break. The Department will continue to work with the school in this regard. In relation to capital works, a new school building for St Patrick's Primary School is part of a campus project that has been devolved for delivery under the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, as part of a bundled school building programme. The brief for the school includes the provision of 24 mainstream classrooms and four special educational needs classrooms. The project is currently at detailed design stage of the architectural process, which involves developing the designs, fully costed planning, the campus project and preparing the necessary documentation to facilitate the application for statutory approval to the local authority. Following a request from the Minister, the Department of Education and Youth, the NDFA and the Land Development Agency recently met to discuss progress on this important project. The Minister has requested that the school be kept fully informed of that progress.
Sentiment score: 0.10
I reiterate that the Minister for education and the officials in her Department are fully aware of the issues raised and will continue to proactively work with the school, pending the delivery of its permanent accommodation solution. The new building project is currently at stage 2A of the architectural design process and the Department of Education and Youth currently awaits the submission of the stage 2A report. In general, some €397 million was invested in capital funding for Kildare schools between 2020 and 2025 and over that period, a total of 47 Kildare schools were upgraded, through the provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or modular accommodation. There are also nine school projects in Kildare under construction at present. Under the national development plan, another 12 school projects in Kildare will go to tender or construction in 2026 and 2027. This summer, five schools are approved to undergo works as part of the summer works climate action scheme. In addition, since 2020 a total of 74 special classes have opened in Kildare, 11 of which were sanctioned for September 2026.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this important issue. Addressing educational disadvantage is a key priority for the Government, for me and, obviously, for the Minister for Education and Youth. The DEIS programme is a key policy initiative for addressing concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. DEIS supplements universal supports by targeting additional resources to schools where disadvantage is most concentrated, helping to promote equity and meet the needs of children and young people. Currently, the DEIS programme supports almost 1,200 primary and post-primary schools and reaches approximately 260,000 students with an annual investment of more than €180 million. Budget 2026 allocated an additional €16.5 million in 2026, rising to €48 million in 2027, to support the implementation of a new DEIS strategy and introduce the DEIS plus scheme, which will commence this year. Schools which were included in the expansion of the programme in 2022 were those with the highest levels of concentration of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage, as identified through the refined DEIS identification model. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme. The model was applied fairly and equally to all schools, including those in the DEIS programme already, to ensure they were in the band which best addressed their level of disadvantage. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, is committed to addressing educational disadvantage in all schools to ensure all children can reach their potential. To this end, a new ten-year DEIS strategy to 2035 will be published in the coming weeks. The new strategy will introduce innovative solutions to address educational disadvantage and continue to address the gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools. Over its lifetime, the new DEIS strategy will focus on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage, developing more innovative approaches to tackling educational disadvantage, and working towards a more flexible system of supports to ensure that a school can receive the right support at the right time. Any future changes to the identification model and overall allocation of resources will be considered within the context of the new ten-year DEIS strategy.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and giving us the opportunity to discuss it. The Department of Education and Youth is committed to supporting a high quality and inclusive school system that provides an equal opportunity for success for all children. DEIS remains central to that commitment and the forthcoming DEIS strategy will ensure that supports are targeted fairly and reflect the evolving needs of our school communities, informed by stakeholder engagement and a strengthened, needs-based allocation model. As part of the new ten-year strategy, the Department will review the current DEIS framework with a view to refining how disadvantage is measured and how schools are supported. This process will take account of a range of evidence and stakeholder feedback to ensure that schools serving significant levels of need are appropriately recognised in the updated model. The refinement of the DEIS model as part of the new strategy will consider how emerging or evolving patterns of disadvantage can be better addressed and how the system can best respond to schools that face increasing levels of need.
Sentiment score: 0.60