School Facilities
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
============================================================

Hildegarde Naughton (FG), Galway West

I am very aware of this issue. I recently met Scoil Mhuire Naofa and the local representatives, including the Deputy, on the matter. A campus project was delivered for three schools - Carrigtwohill Community College, Scoil Mhuire Naofa Carrigtwohill, and Scoil Clíodhna Community National School - as part of my Department's design and build programme. The project was completed in quarter 4 of 2023.
The schools on the campus have sought to use a green area, which forms part of the site for recreation purposes.
The area in question, as the Deputy knows, is not suitable for a formal playing pitch, because it is required as an attenuation basin under the flood management system for the campus. However, the Department is pleased to support the schools' access to this green area as an informal recreation space. Planning permission was granted by Cork County Council for an entrance and access way to this green area, as a standalone planning application.
The scope of works and associated costs to provide the entrance and access way is being reviewed by the Department and officials will update the schools upon completion of that review. In addition, there is an area of about 1.9 acres to the north of the campus in my Department's ownership. The Department has agreed that this can be used as a recreation area by the schools on a licence basis. Officials from my Department are in contact with the relevant stakeholders to progress this. Should the land be required to support school place expansion in the future, its use as a recreation area will cease. My Department has had positive and productive engagements with the three schools and their patrons throughout all stages of this project and will continue to support the schools on the new school campus.

---

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/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23