TDs demand action on local Gaelscoil facilities

All five Dublin Bay North TDs are putting pressure on the government to solve the long-running saga of Gaelcholáiste Reachrann’s lack of permanent buildings.

On Wednesday (Oct 15), local TDs Cian O’Callaghan (Social Democrats), Naoise Ó Muirí (Fine Gael), Barry Heneghan (independent), Denise Mitchell (Sinn Féin) and Tom Brabazon (Fianná Fáil), all shared Dáil time on the issue and spoke of the need to get the problem solved as a matter of urgency.

The five TDs sought to receive an answer from Fianna Fáil’s Michael Moynihan, the junior minister at the Department of Education who worked with the TDs on the issues at Belmayne Educate Together back in March.

Earlier this year, all five TDs visited Gaelcholáiste Reachrann, which opened in 2001, but has received a fraction of the funding or attention of other schools in the Dublin Bay North constituency.

Notably, the school is the only Gaelscoil in the area.

Two-thirds of the facilities at the school are prefabs, a hangover of the Celtic Tiger era of school construction which has stuck around.

O’Callaghan said that they had previously received assurances that a tender process would have been issued on September 1 of this year; that deadline has since passed with no sign of action.

“Correspondence I have seen states that the Department of Education and Youth has failed to date to give the necessary approval for this to proceed to tender. What is causing this delay? When will it go to tender? Will the Minister of State tell us when the construction of these much-needed permanent school buildings will actually commence?”

The Social Democrats TD noted that when the pre-tender documentation was issued, it stated tenders would be sought on, or by the September 1 deadline which has since passed.

O’Callaghan said, “when the Minister visited Gaelcholáiste Reachrann in late May, the promise was that construction would start in the first half of 2026. Is that promise being stood over? Is the Minister of State sticking to that promise or breaking it? Will he give us firm details on when construction will start?”

Ó Muirí said the virtue of both government and opposition TDs working together on the matter “underlines the importance” of getting the issue resolved.

“There is a very committed community of students, parents and teachers who have been waiting for 25 years for that building. The Minister, Deputy McEntee visited earlier this year and witnessed first-hand the commitment of the teachers, students and parents to education in the difficult facilities they have to work in.”

The Fine Gael TD said that he and his fellow constituency TDs all received assurances that the tender process would be solved by the end of quarter 3 of this year, and ground breaking process the time would begin at the end of quarter 1 or the start of quarter 2 in 2026.

With one deadline missed, it is now unlikely the groundbreaking process will begin this side of the school’s 25th anniversary.

Independent TD Heneghan said it was “very important” that the only Irish language school in the area was given the same resources as other schools in the area and that the school is “still waiting” for a solid assurance from the government.

“We will all be making phone calls to parents of children in the school to tell them there is no definite answer. Is there anything the Minister of State can do to get a definite answer and a concrete timeline? It is very important.”

Sinn Féin TD Denise Mitchell said the situation was “totally unfair,” and that ever since Minister McEntee visited the school in May, there has been relatively little communication between the Department and the local TDs on the issue.

“Since then, we cannot get a clear answer about when it is going to tender,” Mitchell said.

She remarked that the Minister’s visit to the school was a “photo op.”

“For 24 years, Gaelcholáiste Reachrann has been fighting for a new build. We have had promise after promise. I stand here as a representative of Dublin Bay North and a parent of two children in that school. I am expressing the frustration of the parents in the school,” the Sinn Féin TD said.

Fianna Fáil TD Brabazon put pressure on his party colleague Moynihan to rectify the issue.

Brabazon said the community was “red with anger” over the lack of clarity for the school.

He remarked that the Department of Education has earned “a kick up the backside” because of the delays.

Brabazon said he has been listening to excuses “for years” about the situation at the school; prior to last November’s general election, the future Fianna Fáil TD (then councillor) attended a walkout at the school as his son was in attendance there.

Speaking at the time, Brabazon said “we have seen the Department approve other educational projects rapidly in the area, and I believe this should be seen as a model for delivery for the new building of Gaelcoláiste Reachrann.”

“I am as angry as any other parent about the delays and the bureaucracy the Department of Education have engaged in,” and said he has repeatedly raised the issue with then-Minister for Education Norma Foley.

In response, Minister Moynihan said “we are fully committed to delivering a new school building for Gaelcholáiste Reachrann. This large-scale capital project involves the provision of a new 600-pupil school and ancillary accommodation.”

Moynihan rattled off a statistic that between 2020 and 2024, capital expenditure of over €400 million was invested in Irish-medium schools which he claims “demonstrates the Department’s commitment to the Irish-medium school sector.

He relayed that Minister McEntee said that the review of the project by Department of Education officials will be completed “shortly,” but “shortly” in an Irish political context could mean anything from a week to a decade.

The Cork TD said he would not be giving “any wild commitments” about the project, to which O’Callaghan remarked, “does that mean the senior Minister’s commitment was a wild commitment?”

Moynihan acknowledged that “every week and day is a delay. I accept people’s frustration. As public representatives in the community, the Deputies have articulated it clearly and demonstrated unity on the issue.”

“I will give a commitment to move what has to be done in the Department speedily through the process and make sure this project is completed.”

He said that he “understood the frustration of parents and the community that something that was promised over 25 years ago has not been delivered.

He said the project is needed, and said that it was indeed “frustrating” that technical issues are holding up the works.

In response to the TDs, he noted a change to the Planning and Development Act 2000 as a reason for the delays, along with a December 2023 stipulation that stated that decarbonisation measures were included in a revised project scope, in line with climate action objectives.

For the staff and students of the school, obscure changes to planning laws translate to another winter of wearing jackets in poorly-insulated prefabs.