St Brendan's Community School works
Deputy McCormack says long-promised ASD wing and extension works at St. Brendan's Community School have stalled again. The Taoiseach says he will check with the relevant Ministers and support progress on the project.
St. Brendan's Community School in Birr is facing ongoing uncertainty around long-promised works, including an ASD wing and a major school extension. This project was first approved in 2018. Since then, the school has moved through various stages but the works have not begun. Most recently, the school was told the project could not proceed until the national development plan implementation programme was published. For a school that has already waited seven years, this is yet another frustrating delay. Parents, children and the people of Birr and the surrounding areas have waited long enough. They deserve more than repeated hold-ups and changing times. Can the Taoiseach explain why an already approved project is now subject to further delay? How does he believe the new infrastructure reform plan will help to expedite this project? I ask him for his support in getting this project started.
Comment on this
Certainly, Deputy. I will have to discuss this with the Ministers for education and public expenditure to see what the issue is and whether it is ready to go. It is an ASD wing. We have put a lot of capital into special education in the past year or two to get more special classes built and so on. I will check with the Minister what is holding it up. The Deputy will have my support in trying to progress this project.