Darren O'Rourke
Meath East · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“It is a statement of fact that in recent years we have seen a reduced number of classroom teachers. Budget 2026 led to the removal of 498 classroom teachers, a net reduction of 381 when one looks at the gains. The year 2025-26 saw a reduction of 290 and 2024-25 a reduction of 237. That has a real impact.”
“It has created duplication, inefficiency and a barrier to our natural prosperity. It has left the North underfunded by Westminster’s austerity and battered by the chaos of Brexit while the South has suffered from a fractured market and a divided island. We are both less than we could be. Irish unity is not a burden; it is an investment.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on statements on the fiscal implications of Irish unity. We hear people tell us Irish unity is a cost we cannot afford but the truth of the matter is partition is the cost we have already paid for for a century and more, and it is a price that is too high.”
“I thank the Minister. She said from November that 97% of posts were filled. In real terms at the same time, 996 teaching posts were unfilled, which is almost 1,000. Figures as recent as last week tell us that over 39,000 primary school students were in classes of 30 pupils or more in the past school year.”
“Again, we have those figures from a briefing we had with the Department as recently as yesterday. It is all welcome progress but the question I am asking today is what is the unmet need as things stand? How many children do not have an offer of a school place?”
“I wish the staff and the Minister all the best for the summer. I know it will be a busy summer but I hope that everyone gets a break. I ask the Minister to state the number of children with additional needs who require but have yet to receive an offer of an appropriate school place for September 2026, based on her most recent meeting with…”
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“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I absolutely agree and that is why it is important to raise these issues. At the heart of this is the question of the funding model for good-quality public service broadcasting. I will give another example on this. I welcome the Ashbourne Women's Shed who are visiting today. There were a number of posts for local democracy journalism funded across the State but in Meath and Mayo those posts have been withdrawn. They are not being funded. It was an initiative on behalf of this Government and the previous government. It was a welcome and important initiative. It could be seen reflected in local online and print media covering local council meetings and court services. There needs to be increased investment in this initiative. In particular, the post in County Meath needs to be reinstated.”
“It is clear, based on the figures the Minister of State has outlined, that the TV licence funding model is completely broken. People are voting with their feet. The Minister of State has outlined a number of contributing factors. The single biggest contributing factor is scandal after scandal in RTÉ. In 2019, over 1 million TV licences were sold. The Minister of State is saying that in the first half of this year, fewer than 300,000 have been sold and in all of last year, only 768,000 were sold. This is a very significant decrease and it calls into serious question the fundamental funding model for public sector broadcasting in this State. When will decisions be made on the review that has been conducted and will the scrapping of the TV licence be considered?”
“That is something that we need to keep a continued emphasis on to ensure that these applications are processed in a timely manner and that all of the necessary scrutiny is conducted from all aspects. One of the key enabling infrastructures around offshore wind is our ports infrastructure. In terms of the development of our ports infrastructure, will we be ready to take advantage of the opportunity that presents itself in terms of offshore wind, whether in terms of ports for the maintenance of these facilities or for their construction?”
“The Minister pointed on some of the issues that I want to raise. The first is what has been identified as a substantial delay in the planning system. This was reported on and accounted in the Oireachtas committee at the back end of last year. There were examples there, which he touched on, in terms of entering into the planning system in 2024, an expectation that people would have a decision in 2025 and instead they get a massive request for further information. I would make two related points on that. The first is that it felt like a planning system getting used to new types of applications. Is that something that we can expect in the future will be resolved? The second is the capacity in the planning system and the staffing of it. It does not fall directly under the Minister's remit, but where is that?”
“It is effectively a ban on the sale and supply of services. The Spanish Parliament voted decisively to do this. If Spain can do it, Ireland can do it. That, of course, is the whole point. It is not the case that the Government cannot include services, it does not want to. Instead, it wants to blunt the impact of this law. How do we know if it could include services if it wanted to? It is because they already are. The Government already applies sanctions on services in Russian occupied Ukraine. It knows how to do it. It is simply refusing to apply the same standard to the rogue state of Israel. This is a political decision - plain and simple. It is incomprehensible. The Government must work with the Opposition to pass an occupied territories Bill that includes goods and services. No more excuses. No more double standards.”
“There is no legal or moral excuse for what this Government has done to the occupied territories Bill. For eight long years, it stalled and delayed. Now, it has cynically gutted the legislation by excluding services. Almost 70% of our trade with the occupied territories is in services. If we exclude services, this Bill will fall far short of its potential and what is necessary, appropriate and right. The Government claims legal impediments. That is a hallow argument. It is no argument at all. The International Court of Justice makes no distinction between goods and services. Spain has led the way. It has banned the advertising of services from illegal settlements. If I cannot advertise an AirBnB property, then I cannot sell it. The Government should not pretend that banning advertising amounts to nought.”
“If anything, it would be worse as it would deny people the right to protest, it would be an act of sportswashing and it would amount to hiding genocide. It cannot happen. This game cannot go ahead. Instead, the Government should support calls to cancel the game on legal and moral grounds. It should uphold their obligations under international law. It should deny entry to any Israeli football players, staff, fans and government officials who may have participated in violations of international law. It should cover any sanctions the FAI may incur and should sanctions be imposed, support any appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It should sign and ratify the International Convention against Apartheid in Sports and support the calls to ban Israel from all sporting competitions.”
“This is a question of Ireland's obligations under international law, our commitment to human rights and our responsibility to act consistently when serious allegations of violations of international law are before us. The Irish football community, campaigners, trade unionists, community organisations and ordinary people rightly say that proceeding with this game risks normalising a situation that demands accountability. They point to the historic role that sporting boycotts played in challenging apartheid in South Africa, the Yugoslav invasion of Kosovo and Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, to name just a few. They ask why quite similar principles should not apply today. The answer is that of course they should. Moving the game to Hungary or anywhere else is no better.”
“Children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in Ireland are still denied access to givinostat, a transformative drug. I understand that the HSE drugs group is to meet tomorrow, 10 June, to consider givinostat for reimbursement. This is after more than a year since it was licensed at European level. A number of serious criteria need to be met in relation to it, principal among these is that the eligibility criteria would be aligned with the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, NICE, approach ensuring access for boys who can walk or who can stand with or without support to ensure Irish boys are not treated differently from their British or European counterparts.”
“The Taoiseach has acknowledged the fact that we need service sites to deliver housing. In many parts of the country, our water network is absolutely creaking. This weekend, for practically the whole weekend, Duleek and Stamullen in County Meath were without water due to unscheduled outages and failed repairs. These outages are all too regular. There is a plan for investment in the network. I am asking the Taoiseach to ensure that is prioritised and rolled out as quickly as is possible and in the meantime, that Uisce Éireann is held to account for responsiveness to outages and to communities.”
“Givinostat is a potentially life-altering drug for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The European Commission granted conditional marketing authorisation for givinostat almost a year ago, on 6 June 2025. There has been a frustrating delay, some of it on the company's behalf. I understand that the HSE's drugs group will review givinostat at its June meeting and make a recommendation to the senior leadership team to approve the medicine or not. There is a campaign, Time is Muscle. Every day counts for these children. I ask that a decision be made as early as possible. Children need access to this drug.”
“In this, I want to make the case for the Minister to play whatever helpful role she can with the parties involved to try to move things on and bring them to a successful resolution. We are aware of some of the issues at stake here: access, for example, to a public service pension scheme versus auto-enrolment versus a third, bespoke model. I will make a strong case, and I hope the Minister hears it and can pass it on to her ministerial colleagues. There is a real concern that there will not be any recognition of years of dedicated contributions, and that, for example, those people who have longer service, fewer years left on their contracts and are closer retirement will be disadvantaged. It is important that any pension scheme recognises the years of dedicated service that people have given.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. The reason I raised this issue is because we are coming towards the end of the school year. This will be our last opportunity at priority questions before the school year ends. At the start of the school year, school secretaries and caretakers reluctantly went on strike outside schools in pursuit of pension parity. We could all see - I hope Government could see it, and it surely knows it - the level of public support, particularly within school communities, that there is for school secretaries and caretakers. Their claim is a just one. It is for pension parity. The deep concern at this stage - and I take on board every word of the Minister's response - is that time is moving on and these individuals, in some circumstances, are making decisions about when they will retire and be able to move on.”
“There are a couple of things there. We do not have the figure for the number of children who do not have an offer. We do not have the figure for the number of children who were notified to the NCSE after 1 October. I presume the Minister of State does have those figures but is not making them publicly available. That raises very significant concerns. Based on my estimation, we are talking about hundreds of children without an offer and thousands of children in inappropriate school placements - nearly 4,000 based on the applications prior to 1 October. It is the Minister of State's formula of words that he "encourages" schools to go now and begin their admissions policy. Is he tracking that at all? Of the 546 classes that have been sanctioned, how many have their admissions completed or ongoing? Does the Minister of State know?”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. It is reassuring to hear that the Department tracks the numbers and the placements. It would be more reassuring if it would make those public and provide them to Opposition politicians when they ask questions on them. I will ask again in relation to the figures. The last time we were here the Minister of State indicated there were 7,860 notifications to the NCSE before 1 October, that about 75% of those children were already in school and that he was dealing with around 2,000 new applications. Based on 546 new classes sanctioned, the Minister of State has 3,276 places to address that need. How many children do not have an offer of a school place at this stage?”
“Before we move to the next speaker I welcome the children from Skerries Educate Together to the Visitors Gallery, along with their teachers, John and Mary. This is of special interest to Deputy Grace Boland as her two children - twins, Kaya and Millie - are with them. Tá fáilte mhór rompu uilig.”
“Sinn Féin is demanding an emergency cost-of-living budget, a lump sum payment for people with disabilities now and a permanent cost-of-disability scheme to end this neglect for good. People with disabilities should not have to beg for a decent standard of living. The Minister should withdraw his insulting amendment. People with disabilities are entitled to live with dignity, independence and security. This Government has a responsibility to act. It is time it fulfilled it.”
“Vincent de Paul, Barnardos, the Disability Federation of Ireland, other disabled persons' organisations, and advocacy groups, but more importantly, in our constituency clinics and communities, at kitchen tables and sitting beside people. Households with a disabled member are being forced to choose between food, warmth and equipment essential to their lives. The average energy arrears of a household are nearly €500, but for families with a disabled member it is far higher. The Government should not hide behind the seasons or the weather. Just because we are moving into warmer months does not mean the additional costs disappear. Energy bills, including for heating, and bills for water, medical devices, transport and care do not take a summer break.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and thank Teachta O'Reilly and colleagues for moving it. I am sorry that they have had to move such a motion again. The Minister will have seen similar motions from other Opposition groups. The motion calls clearly on the Government to stop turning a blind eye and to finally deliver an emergency cost-of-disability payment, not next month and not in the next budget, but now. In last year's budget, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael made a cold, cruel choice. They left people with disabilities €1,400 worse off. Just think about that. It is not a figure on a spreadsheet; it is the difference between heating a home and powering a wheelchair. It is the difference between a hot meal and an impossible choice. We have heard testimonies from the Society of St.”
“There are areas that have no services at all. I raise the case of Bellewstown, County Meath. I am very supportive of the Connecting Ireland rural transport plan but there is underinvestment and it is slow in its roll-out. A 13-year-old boy, James, launched a petition which has over 450 people. He is calling for a local bus service for Bellewstown. There was a bus service in the 1930s in Bellewstown. He is a really good young lad who has taken an interest in this. He is passionate in pursuing it. The Minister might facilitate a meeting with him at some stage if he is in Meath or maybe in Leinster House, so he can raise the issues with him. I appreciate the Minister is nodding. We can arrange that.”
“The news on the Navan rail corridor was very welcome and I encourage people to engage with the public consultation that is ongoing. I will engage with it and it is very welcome news. Until Navan rail is delivered, the vast majority of public transport in Meath is by bus and on road. There are major weaknesses with the existing services there. The 103, 105 and 109 routes are servicing busy commuter routes in Ashbourne, Rathoath, Dunshaughlin and Kells. It is not a case of whether there will be cancellations on a daily basis, there are cancellations on a daily basis. Today, ten services have been cancelled on the 103 route between 2.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m. Six services have been cancelled on route 109 during the same time. We have to improve the buses, the fleet, drivers and mechanics. I ask the Minister to please address those issues.”
“I raise the unscheduled water outages in Ashbourne, County Meath. They are hugely frustrating and increasingly common. People who have lived in the area for decades say it has never been worse. There is a variety of issues: interruptions at the treatment plant, reduced levels in the reservoirs and problems with pumps. However, the main issue is the large and ageing network that has not been invested in. To add insult to injury, Uisce Éireann's communication is a disgrace. What is the Taoiseach doing to address these outages in Ashbourne? Will he advance Sinn Féin's Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2025 to hold Uisce Éireann to account?”
“St. Joseph's co-ed primary school in East Wall in Dublin has been told it will lose two teaching posts from September. The school appealed the decision but was told last week that the appeal was unsuccessful. The Department says it will cut one teaching post due to enrolment numbers. The school is one pupil short to retain the teacher - just one pupil. The other post to be cut is a legacy post that has been there for decades and covers the school's reception class programme. This programme does incredible work and plays an important role in supporting children's early language development, school readiness and transition into junior infants. This is a success story. It is a model for DEIS schools but it will be cut. These cuts are simply unconscionable. Will the Minister intervene to ensure they are reversed?”
“Will the Taoiseach contact Athletics Ireland on behalf of the Government to encourage it to engage with stakeholders to advance that motion?”
“The Friends of Irish Athletics group presented to a packed audiovisual room earlier today. It highlighted the longstanding discrepancy, injustice and discrimination related to the World Athletics 1934 political boundary rule. This means that when an Irish runner competes for Ireland in the Olympics they are specifically representing the island of Ireland, but when an Irish runner competes in the World Athletics Championships they are specifically representing the Twenty-six Counties. The Friends of Irish Athletics group is campaigning for Athletics Ireland to bring forward a motion to the 2027 World Athletics Congress to seek a derogation from the 1934 political boundary rule. Athletics Ireland has indicated some willingness to do this.”
“Eurostat has again confirmed that Ireland has the highest electricity prices in Europe, meaning that on average, consumers are paying in the region of 40% more than their European counterparts. What measures is the Taoiseach taking to reduce the cost of electricity to households and businesses, and to address the root causes of the high cost of electricity here?”
“There is a shortage of Gaelscoil places for September 2026 in Dunshaughlin, County Meath. There are anywhere between 15 and 30 children, some with offers from other schools but who want an Irish-medium education and want a Gaelscoil place. The demand is there. The willingness is there on behalf of the Gaelscoil, the board of management, the bishop and patron body. The Taoiseach's ministerial colleagues, Helen McEntee and Thomas Byrne, are very familiar with this issue. However, the block is with the Department, the Minister and the wider Government. They will not sanction an extra class and an extra teacher. I ask the Taoiseach to intervene and ensure that an extra class and teacher are put on for these children for September.”
“The Minister has acknowledged that recruitment is a challenge and will be a challenge until 2028. I hope she will acknowledge that retention is also an issue. Defence Force members in County Meath, the Minister's constituency and mine, raise with me the issues of breaches of the working time directive and recognition, respect and fair pay for our Defence Forces and for the overtime they do. Does the Minister recognise that is a contributing factor in terms of the recruitment and the retention of Defence Force members? How will she address that?”
“I do not agree. I will be interested to see the figures, which I understand the Minister will provide. According to the latest information we have, which is from the end of 2025, the target for the Naval Service, for example, was 1,094 personnel and the target for level of ambition 2 for 2028 was 1,794 personnel, whereas the number in situ in late 2025 was roughly 784. That means we needed more than 1,000 additional members to be recruited by 2028. Is that going to happen? What are the latest figures the Minister has for the Naval Service? My concern is that we are a long way off that level of ambition 2 figure.”
“In an awful lot of cases, it does not work. We need the State to step in and say it will build communities and support people doing it.”
“I could name any number of soccer clubs, including Stamullen FC, Killegland AFC and Kells Celtic FC, and boxing clubs which are in precarious situations. For example, they may be renting a corner of a gym. Many important sporting clubs and organisations have been without a permanent home for a long time and a solution needs to be provided. I have heard the Minister of State mention this developer-led approach where there can be negotiations and conditions on planning applications. I have also heard and have experience of working with educational facilities. It is very slow. An Teachta Seán Crowe was here before to address a specific roadblock. I have experience of people going for a sports capital grant on school facilities who did not get the okay and had to pull out of it. It is not a permanent solution but where it works, it works.”
“Whether it is the Minister's Department or the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, we need a solution for this.”
“Both the Minister and Minister of State have to be aware that this is a major issue. We are here for oral questions every six weeks or so. Every time we are here, this question comes up, particularly in the urban areas, Dublin and the wider commuter belt. The issue is that there are public parks and they are oversubscribed and, certainly in my area, that the State does not own land. The first question I asked when I was a county councillor elected to Meath County Council in 2014 was to show me the land that the council or the State owns in the area I was elected for. It is minuscule. Clubs are entirely dependent on negotiation or some sort of deal under the county development plan. They are renting and are sent from pillar to post. It is a major issue and there needs to be a solution for it.”
“I ask the Minister of State if he plans to introduce a scheme to support sports clubs with the cost of purchasing land for playing pitches. I could include buildings. My question is about providing clubs with a permanent home, whether playing pitches, boxing clubs and so on. It is a big issue for clubs across the State, particularly in urban centres and, in my case, in the commuter belt area, where the State does not own land.”
“Is the clearing house just looking at projects currently in the planning system or is it looking at upcoming projects in the south coast DMAP area? Is it looking at future DMAPs? How is it approaching its work and what barriers are there? How is the clearing house resourced in the context of staff? Does it have enough people who have enough time available to them? Does it have an international focus? Is it rebuilding confidence of the international supply chain in Ireland as a place to invest? A lot of international confidence has fallen away and there are clear examples of that. Is the clearing house looking at that as well?”
“In the wider context, the Bill deals specifically with the Education Act, but the principle applies across all health issues, from allergies to epilepsy, from asthma to diabetes. A medical emergency does not ask for a timetable. It does not wait for the HSE to arrive. It happens in the classroom, on the playing pitch, in the playground. Parents deserve peace of mind. Students with medical vulnerabilities deserve safety, and staff deserve clear guidance, proper training and the knowledge that they are supported, not abandoned, when a crisis hits. This Bill provides the basis to give our schools the tools, training and legal clarity they need to protect the lives in their care, and I am happy to support its progress to Committee Stage.”
“Medical emergency preparedness is a whole-school responsibility, not an individual teacher's burden, and where extra help is needed with ongoing medical support, the State must fund extra SNA hours. Right now, there is no statutory requirement for consistent, high-quality emergency medical training in our schools. We rely on the goodwill of individual principals and passionate staff. Goodwill is not enough, though. We need a legal framework. We need every school to have a sufficient number of staff trained in emergency first aid, a maintained defibrillator that people know how to use, and a clear pathway to access and administer life-saving medicines without fear of legal repercussion. This Bill provides that framework. It is proportionate and necessary, and Sinn Féin supports it.”
“The Bill also pushes schools to join the list held by the HPRA, the list of organisations whose trained and authorised staff can administer prescription-only medicines such as emergency asthma inhalers or adrenaline autoinjectors without a prescription to save a life or reduce severe distress. That list exists but too few schools are on it. This Bill aims to change that. We should also be clear about what this Bill is not. It is not a mandate to pile yet another unmanageable responsibility onto already overworked teachers. This Bill does not require every teacher to become a medical expert. Where a child requires additional, ongoing medical support, such as insulin monitoring or regular glucose checks, that is the role of an SNA. That is a clear line.”
“We are talking about the child with a severe nut allergy who suffers anaphylaxis, the student with type 1 diabetes whose continuous glucose monitor alarms requiring an insulin injection or the staff member who collapses from sudden cardiac arrest. In those moments, seconds count. In those moments, the difference between life and death can be whether a trained person is nearby with the right equipment. This Bill is about creating a system of preparedness that covers first aid training, medical awareness and the availability of critical emergency medicines. Section 1 empowers the Minister to make regulations requiring schools to promote the training of sufficient staff in first aid for medical emergencies including the use of equipment like defibrillators.”
“I welcome this Bill. Sinn Féin supports it and I thank Deputy Kenny for bringing it forward and outlining how personal it is to him. No child or member of staff should die or come to serious harm in a school because those around them did not have the training, equipment or permission to act. Every day, parents across Ireland drop their children to school trusting that they will be safe but the hard truth, backed by evidence, is that too many of our schools are not fully prepared for a medical emergency. In 2024 a report from Medical Emergency Response Ireland asked how prepared are Irish schools for a medical emergency and the answer was very concerning. Most primary school staff have not been trained to use life-saving equipment like adrenaline autoinjectors. We are not talking about rare hypothetical events.”
“I will be happy to engage with the further consultations and progress reports. A wealth of effort has been put in to date. There is a roadmap but it needs to be actioned and implemented. The stakes are high here. The number of children that are being failed, falling through the cracks and are being left behind by dint of the fact that they are Travellers is a stain and a shame on the State.”
“This is really important. I welcome a number of recent announcements by the Government related to DEIS plus and the DEIS plan. I will contest every inch of it but the principle of the transformational power of education and a specific focus on educational inequality is hugely important. Within that, there needs to be a particular focus on the Traveller population because the figures are absolutely shocking. I referred to the completion rate for the leaving certificate, but if we consider those on reduced hours or timetables and the rate of absenteeism, the potential is being ripped from the lives of these young people. The State can take significant steps through the education system and other services to support these young people. They deserve that opportunity the same as every other child.”
“Does the State have a strategy? It has a Traveller and Roma education strategy. I looked at the third progress report from December last year which is only a handful of months ago. It shows that a significant number of measures were only partially implemented or not implemented at all. We have been over this ground previously and have identified the barriers and what needs to happen but the necessary progress has not been made. What measures is the Government taking to support young Travellers and to increase the number of young Travellers who are completing primary and secondary school?”
“One of the key findings was that young Traveller people find the loss of tailored supports in the transition from primary to post-primary school extremely difficult. Relationships between Traveller young people and school staff are crucial but most Traveller young people in this study reported negative relationships with teachers. There were a number of other findings and recommendations for Government, schools and for policymakers. Recommendations include ensuring that: Traveller young people are supported in the transition into secondary school from primary school; ethnic segregation practices are not happening at school; discipline practices are not disproportionately affecting Travellers; and practices of inclusion are informed by Traveller young people themselves. These recommendations reflect some of the key findings.”
“I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue for discussion. Every child is innocent and should have the opportunity to reach his or her full potential but the education system and the State are failing Traveller children. We have statistics showing that only 27% of young Travellers complete post-primary education compared to 97% of the wider population and less than 1% of Travellers go on to third level education. This issue is particularly topical in the context of a report from UCC entitled Traveller transitions - Racialised inequalities in education, which was launched today. It is qualitative research so it is the voice of young Traveller people themselves.”
“Is this something the Minister is looking at? Is she concerned about the direction of travel in schools in Ireland, in particular the costs for parents?”
“I think I speak on behalf of every TD in the Chamber in saying that come the middle of August, we will be in contact with the Department about children who have not got access to the school transport system. The Minister can take that as read - unfortunately. I want to ask the Minister about a related point. My contention is that all of this happens in the same households on which there are demands to provide for the cost of sending children to school. On the one hand, I welcome the free books scheme. The Government is happy to remind people of that. On the other hand, a significant number of schools are demanding digital devices for every child, at a cost of hundreds of euro each. We saw media reports in recent days and weeks about Sweden and other places that are stepping away from this type of technology.”
“We cannot separate these increases in cost. To that repeated line about the review of school transport fees, there are already fees. It is not the case that there were not fees. The issue is that they are being increased significantly, by up to 100% in some cases. The Minister might say they are modest increases or a reintroduction of leaving certificate and junior certificate fees that were there before, but she cannot strip this away from the cost-of-living crisis. Parents are dealing with uniforms, transition year fees, voluntary contributions and digital devices. It is a major burden on families at a time when they need relief rather than additional costs being heaped on them. Will the Minister review and reverse these decisions?”
“The Minister will appreciate two significant considerations. One is the lapsing of the planning permission and having to go back. I met Meath County Council about this. There is a new county development plan. Significant work will have to be redone in terms of submissions and there is concern that will delay the project further. I appreciate what the Minister said about pre-works and so on, but can she give any assurance about that question? Will the lapsing of the planning permission delay the project further or can the two processes happen at once? I repeatedly hear about a Department-led prioritisation process. What opportunities are there for individual schools or boards of management to engage with that process?”
“There are other questions on the Order Paper today about the same issue. A question being asked in every corner of Ireland is how are schools selected for prioritisation and how, in all that is reasonable, were other schools left behind. With the state of deterioration, dilapidation and condition of the school, that it is intended for this school to provide additional special education places and improved accommodation for a growing population and that it has essentially been at tendering stage on two occasions before now, the Minister will be able to imagine the extreme frustration of the school that there is a significant question mark over how long it will take to get a new school.”