Schools Building Projects Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10 ============================================================ Joe Conway (IND), Cultural and Educational Panel 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. --- 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/2026-06-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:02+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-10