School Facilities Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18 ============================================================ Anne Rabbitte (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and I thank the Minister of State for being here to take it. While it is not a Commencement matter specifically on special educational needs, I am delighted I have a Minister from the Department of Education and Youth here. Tiernascragh National School in County Galway has 56 pupils attending. It has grown its numbers over the last number of years. The growth is down to good leadership in the school from the principal, staff and board of management. Most importantly, it is down to the loyal parents who have elected to keep their community school alive. I am disappointed to say that on 16 April last year, the school received a response from the Department of education regarding an accommodation needs assessment. The Department said that it was moving away from renting modular units. Although the school has two classes and a small room where it provides SEN supports, the Department said that it was no longer renting modular units. The school was told it would either have to wait 18 months for the Department to make a determination on whether it qualifies for a purpose-built modular fix on site or more than six years to put concrete in the ground. The school was also asked to see if there was a community hall available, which the Department of education would rent for it. A little bit like Kiskeam where the Minister of State comes from, Tiernascragh is one of those little parishes. It is so small that there is no connecting footpath from the church to the community centre, which is on the opposite side of the road. We talk about inclusive education and integration, and this school is doing it all. It is not right that we would provide funding to allow the kids to walk to a community centre when there is no footpath. If there was an accident and something happened to a teacher or pupils, we would be leaving that teacher open to a health and safety risk. The risk has not been assessed here and common sense is not prevailing. Can we not use the money available to rent the community centre to rent a modular unit? I have a principal who is saying, "Just give me a classroom". Keep the students on site. Let them play inclusive games and engage in inclusive education, but, most of all, let us keep everyone safe. Where, in the name of God, during the accommodation needs assessment was that risk assessment carried out? Was it another desktop exercise where someone looked at Tiernascragh National School with its 56 pupils and decided that if the school does not go with the community centre, it will be asked to do team teaching with two teachers in a classroom. There are four teachers in the junior section and four in the senior section, but there will be two teachers teaching in the class. That is like having two housewives in the one kitchen. It does not happen and would not work. A mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law would not happen, so why would we expect teachers to do team teaching? I have no doubt the Minister of State has a response for me because I am on this case, but I am looking for sense to prevail. --- 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/2026-02-18/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-18