Schools Building Projects
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-26
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Niall Collins (FF), Limerick County

I thank Deputies Neville and Farrelly for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth. I welcome the opportunity to provide details of the interaction the Department of Education and Youth has had with St. Patrick's Primary School Celbridge in relation to the emergency works scheme and to provide an update on its capital project.
As the Deputies will be aware, the purpose of the emergency works scheme is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies or to provide funding to facilitate inclusion and access for pupils with special needs. An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, and a situation which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action. In the case of a school, the situation must be of sufficient gravity whereby, if not corrected, it would prevent the school or part of it from opening.
Following an invitation from Deputy Neville, the Minister visited the school in January. She was given a tour of the building before meeting local school leaders and the board of management. During this visit, she was advised by the school that a number of classrooms had been closed and that the building had structural defects. St. Patrick's Primary School has submitted a number of applications for funding under the emergency works scheme for life safety equipment, fabric defects and roof works. The emergency works scheme operates on the basis of a minimal scope of works required to remedy an emergency situation. On this basis, the school was advised to submit a revised scope of works with an accompanying itemised cost breakdown.
In January, the Department engaged project engineers and contractors to address the immediate issues. This facilitated the completion of initial remedial works by 5 February, which allowed for classrooms that were closed to reopen. There has been significant engagement with St. Patrick's in relation to the sequencing of works to address the outstanding issues. A written programme update was issued to the school on 9 February. A further update was provided to the school on 24 February. This programme outlined a number of actions which are planned, utilising two modular units which were provided to the school. This will facilitate the temporary decanting of students to allow classrooms works to take place. The sequencing of works is set out to maximise the mid-term break and Easter break. The Department will continue to work with the school in this regard.
In relation to capital works, a new school building for St Patrick's Primary School is part of a campus project that has been devolved for delivery under the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, as part of a bundled school building programme. The brief for the school includes the provision of 24 mainstream classrooms and four special educational needs classrooms. The project is currently at detailed design stage of the architectural process, which involves developing the designs, fully costed planning, the campus project and preparing the necessary documentation to facilitate the application for statutory approval to the local authority.
Following a request from the Minister, the Department of Education and Youth, the NDFA and the Land Development Agency recently met to discuss progress on this important project. The Minister has requested that the school be kept fully informed of that progress.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-26