Gaelscoil na Ríthe classroom delay
Darren O'Rourke raises overcrowding at Gaelscoil na Ríthe caused by a delayed prefab classroom. The Minister acknowledges the commitment and says she will work to have it delivered promptly.
The Minister is familiar with this issue, and I call on her to intervene personally and urgently. The fifth-class students in Gaelscoil na Ríthe in Dunshaughlin are currently being accommodated in a small library room in an old prefab. Support hours are being provided in the staff room. This is because a promised prefab that should be in place is not in place and they are being told that it will be the end of quarter one 2027 when it is delivered. This was a positive news story with an additional junior infants class and it was welcomed. The school has gone above and beyond to facilitate additional students. It is incredible to me, and to all of Ireland, that it would take the guts of 12 months to deliver a prefabricated modular unit to this school. The Minister knows well as I do, the factory is literally a couple of hundred yards up the road. I ask the Minister to please intervene personally with the Minister and the Department. Get this done. The problem is with the Department. Get it resolved. It is unacceptable that they have to wait that long. This should be delivered in the next handful of weeks, in my firm opinion.
Comment on this
As the Deputy outlined, this is actually a really positive story. We have all, the Deputy included, worked closely with parents over the past number of months to make sure that the additional classroom that was needed to ensure that children going from naíonraí were able to go into a Gaelscoil in their local community. That happened. I welcome the work by the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, to support us in making that happen. My objective now, the same as the Deputy, is to make sure that the classroom, is provided as quickly as possible. A commitment was given and I have been speaking directly with Rónán, the principal, but also with the Department, to make sure that we can provide that as quickly as possible. We do not want any child to be in a classroom or an environment that is too small or that is not necessarily as appropriate as it should be. We are doing everything that we can to make sure that the classroom is provided as quickly as possible.