Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Newtown School, over two and a quarter centuries old, has served Waterford and the wider region for nearly 228 years, rooted in a strong Quaker tradition of inclusive, rounded and child-centred education. The school entered the free education scheme in 2014, and, at the request of the Department of Education at the time, agreed to expand to accommodate 600 students with the necessary accommodation and infrastructure to be delivered through the Department of Education's ADAPT 2018 capital programme. This project has been in progress for over a decade, as I have said, and now reaches stage 2b detailed design. It has secured the key statutory approval required to move forward.

Significant public money has already been invested. Professional fees on the main building project alone are approximately €1.315 million including VAT. It is, therefore, not at an early stage. It is a long-developed and approved project that now requires immediate Department of education authorisation to progress to tender and construction. The school is now under increasing pressure due to the deteriorating condition of its existing buildings, urgent health and safety concerns and the serious risk that any further delay by the Department of Education and Youth could undermine the viability of the overall development project. In particular, the Penn, Webster and Glynn classroom buildings, which are scheduled for demolition as part of the proposed new extension, may require substantial external and internal upgrade works if the project is delayed further. This would result in avoidable expenditure on buildings that are ultimately intended to be replaced, placing additional financial and operational pressure on the school and indeed on the taxpayer. I am asking for movement on the Newtown School. I ask that the Department of Education and Youth prioritises the Newtown School development project, that it approves progression to tender and construction without undue further delay and authorises urgent emergency works to address immediate health and safety concerns that are manifest. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply and of course, in due course, his support.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth to outline to the Seanad the current position in relation to the major funding project for Newtown School. The project involves the redevelopment of Newtown School to provide accommodation for a long term enrolment of 600 students. The existing shared campus will be reorganised and extended to complement the historic architecture that the Senator identified. The project involves a significant expansion to the existing school building to include a new PE hall facility and the special education needs suite. An enabling work contract to provide additional accommodation was completed in February 2025. The major building project for the school referred to by the Senator is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning, namely, stage 2B detailed design, where the design team has secured all statutory approvals and is preparing the suite of tender documents. It is an important phase of the process.

This building is of significant conservation importance as highlighted by the planning authority. The design team outlined the proposal of works that need to be completed to improve the condition of the deteriorating buildings, thereby allowing the council to grant an extension to the planning of five years. A planning extension was secured and enabling works were approved for the link building roof in September 2025. The design team prepared and submitted to the Department for review the tender documents to appoint a contractor to carry out these works. These tender documents were recently approved by the Department and the design team was instructed to proceed in issuing the letter of intent to the successful contractor. This letter of intent issued in April this year. Once works commence on the site it is envisaged it will take four to five months to complete. A total capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth has been confirmed for the period from 2026 to 2030 under the national development plan. As part of this NDP allocation the Department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs.

In relation to project roll-out for large-scale projects and additional school accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project roll-out over the course of the 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs. Prioritisation will continue to identify further tranches of projects to proceed to tender and construction over the NDP period with stakeholder consultation to commence in June 2026.

Since 2020, the Department of education has provided €149.65 million in capital funding for Waterford schools. Over this period, a total of 33 schools have been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation. Two school projects were included in the NDP implementation plan to go to tender or construction in 2026 and 2027. There are currently six school projects in Waterford under construction. This summer, seven schools are approved to undergo works as part of the climate action summer works scheme. In addition, since 2020 a total of 68 special classes have been sanctioned in Waterford, of which 17 were sanctioned for September 2026.

I thank the Minister of State. As I mentioned, the school was opened in 1798, the year of the 1798 Rising. Over the two and a quarter centuries it has seen significant historical events in Waterford and Ireland, most noticeably the transition with Independence from a Quaker school to being a supplier of education to the south east, while also keeping very close to the Quaker tradition of industry, hard work and respect for human dignity and human rights. As well as that, it is an architectural gem in the south east. Whereas the Newtown School board of management members look with great pride on their history, they would love to look with confidence to the future. That cannot be attained without the support of the Minister of State and his colleagues. What he said here this morning gives a ray of hope. I thank him for that. I ask him to do everything possible to progress the ambitions of this famous and noteworthy school.

I can see the Senator is passionate about this project, as he is about many issues. It is clear that because of the historical context, all concerned are anxious that it is done correctly. That is why the contract is under way for the enabling works and all of that. Like many projects it is on a journey now that will be irrevocable in terms of the staging. It has reached significant milestones and from my experience both in here and in the other House over 23 or 24 years, when projects get on that pathway, sometimes it takes a bit longer because of funding that has to be assigned based on various prioritisations, but once it gets through that first significant gate it is a significant step. It is now on a journey that we all hope will progress as judiciously and as expeditiously as possible. It will give the Senator and the community there these facilities. From my experience in my own area I know that the fact that part of the focus is on special needs adds considerably to the prioritisation because the Government has been very clear in terms of what our focus is on education generally but more specifically on children with special needs and ensuring that they get every resource possible to assist them on their journey. Together with everything else the Senator identified, that gives a significant boost to what will be a protracted journey. It is moving in the right direction.