101. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she is aware of the ongoing challenges regarding a school (details supplied) accessing a sports capital grant due to concerns of the archdiocese relating to financial costs incurred by primary schools when undertaking such a grant, if her departmental officials would be asked to mediate between the two parties in order to achieve a resolution that would provide a sports amenity for a socio-economically deprived area and if she will provide clarity to both parties. [70411/25]

Sentiment score: 0.28

This question concerns St. Thomas National School in Jobstown. I do not know if the Minister of State is aware of the challenges it is facing. There are a lot of moving parts. The latest challenge is coming from the archdiocese in looking for clarification on an undertaking from the Department about it. It relates to Jobstown Celtic Football Club at St. Thomas National School and the building of a astro pitch. The money is sitting there in an account but we cannot get agreement from the archdiocese, which is looking for clarification from the Department.

Sentiment score: -0.06

There are a lot of moving parts with regard to this. Everyone is in favour of it - the club, the school, the community, South Dublin County Council and political representatives. The challenge is that the archdiocese wants to know who will pay for the opening and closing of the premises after the school uses the facility and who will pay for insurance and cleaning. The club is going to do all that. I can get an affidavit. The archdiocese is saying the capitation grant does not cover it so it is looking for clarification from the Department regarding the archdiocese's demand for an increase in the capitation grant. Some of the things it is looking for are outside the scope of it. The ball is back in the court of the Department. The archdiocese is saying that it might look at it at a later stage and that when a sports capital grant is established to cover the running costs of the project, this proposal can be revisited. What it is looking for is madness. At the end of the day, common sense should apply. It is an area of high deprivation and this decision will hugely affect the children. An astro pitch is already there but it is safer to play on the road than it is on the actual pitch, given the state it is in. I am really frustrated about this.

Sentiment score: 0.05

It is a huge advantage to the area, the pupils in the school and the wider community. It is something that can be resolved. If an affidavit from the club stating that it would cover all the costs was given, that might be enough. The capitation grant is a problem but I might talk to the Minister of State afterwards. Perhaps we can put our heads together and, with the archdiocese, come up with a commonsense solution that will resolve this problem and provide an astro pitch for the kids in this area.

Sentiment score: 0.17