Schools Building Projects
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-12
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Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West

Could the Minister respond to the suggestion that has come from Government backbenchers that, effectively, there is some parish-pump parochialism going on in terms of the inclusion of certain schools in these tranches? There are ten projects in Galway, which has 5% of the population of the country, compared with 22 in Dublin - approximately 21% of the projects - where in the region of 27% of the population lives. The Minister might want to take the opportunity to respond to that suggestion, which, I again stress, is coming from Government backbenchers.
There is nothing in Tallaght, although there are plenty of schools there that are in desperate need. I want to highlight the case of one. I have spoken about this over a number of years in the Dáil. St. Aidan's in Brookfield is an amazing school. It has amazing staff and amazing students but the building is in a horrendous state. A new building is needed. The school has spent millions on emergency works just to keep the existing building patched together, but it has not dealt with the leaks in the roof and the white stuff coming out of the windows. It is not possible to the windows because the grilles on the outside have become corroded and are stuck to the frames. I will come back on this. The school desperately needs a new building.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-12