School Accommodation Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-05 ============================================================ Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West I thank Senator Kyne for raising the matter. It gives me an opportunity to brief Seanad Éireann on the current position in relation to St. Joseph’s Patrician College, or the Bish, in Galway. The Senator is well aware that this was approved as a major devolved construction project to provide a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils and a four-classroom special educational needs base. It has been devolved for delivery to the Le Chéile Schools Trust. The senior Minister, Deputy Naughton, is very supportive of this project. The project is currently at stage 2b of the architectural design process. This stage allows for detailed design and planning, obtaining necessary statutory permissions and preparing for the tender documents. I know the Senator has been working very closely with the school and, as he alluded to, other representatives as well. The planning has been granted, and the Le Chéile Schools Trust has advised that the Stage 2b report is expected to be submitted by the end of quarter 1 of this year. Once received, it will undergo a detailed technical and cost review in line with the public spending code. Managing timing, scope and cost is crucial to staying within budgetary limits for the overall programme. The Senator will be aware, as he alluded to in his comments, that the Department published its €7.55 billion national development plan sectoral investment plan for education for the period 2026 to 2030. The plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. Everybody understands at this stage that we will be advancing special education as a major issue within this. To cut to the chase, a huge amount of work has been done on this project on the ground with Department officials and Ministers over a number of years to bring it to fruition. The major development construction project is there. It is important that the school authorities submit the stage 2b architectural design report. As I alluded to, that will be in quarter 1. They should make sure that there is no delay in this regard. I know the Senator will be working with the school community to ensure that as well. We will be working to go through the various processes in the Department when it comes through. The Department is well aware of the challenges and the need to make sure we are getting value for money. This project has been under discussion for quite some time. We announced the first tranche of schools in the Department last week. There will be ongoing engagement right across Government in this regard. In relation to the Bish, or St. Joseph's, it is important that there is no delay. When details are received within the Department, the matter will be looked at, particularly in light of the pressures that exist within the community in Galway. I have answered a number of questions in Seanad Éireann over the past while in terms of the growing demand for school places in Galway. We are acutely aware of it. It is important that there is no delay. I assure the Senator that it will be given serious consideration when the relevant documentation is submitted to the Department. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-05/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-05