Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2026
373. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on the delivery of a full-time, permanent building for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18211/26]
View answerThe project referred to by the Deputy is part of the Celbridge Campus project encompassing St Patrick's Primary School, St Raphael’s Special School and Celbridge Community School. This project has been devolved for delivery to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) as part of a bundled school building programme (Project Shannon).
The brief for St Patrick's includes the provision of 24 mainstream classrooms and 4 Special Educational Needs classrooms.
The project is currently at Stage 2a of the architectural design process. Stage 2a (the developed design stage) involves the Design Team developing the designs, fully cost planning the campus project and preparing the necessary documentation to facilitate the lodging for statutory approval to Kildare County Council as part of the Stage 2b process.
The department have recently received the Stage 2a report and this is currently under review by the departments P & T team from a technical and cost perspective. At this early stage it is not possible to provide a timeline for completion of this project. However the NDFA will continue to engage directly with the school authority to keep them fully informed of progress on this important project.
The Department of Education and Youth (DEY) is aware of issues highlighted by the school in question and in recent weeks has engaged project managers and contractors to address said issues. At present there are roofing contractors on site carrying out significant works to the school roof. The school in question has been provided with written programme updates including delivery timelines for specific works. The most recent was sent to the school last Friday (27th February).
The Department is satisfied that the methodology provided to the school addresses all the issues which have been raised by the school and the Department continues to engage with the Patron and school authority on a regular basis.
