TDs push for new school buildings at St. Aidan’s

All three Dublin North-West TDs have said that a new planned school in the area needs to be pushed up the chain.

TDs Dessie Ellis (Sinn Féin), Rory Hearne (Social Democrats) and Paul McAuliffe (Fianna Fáil) have been working on the issue recently, taking meetings with staff of St. Aidan’s, and on Thursday night, raised the issue in the Dáil as a collective.

The three TDs pressed Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Robert Troy, on the issue.

Ellis explained that St. Aidan’s submitted an application for upgraded school buildings on the site of the existing school, and planning permission was granted by An Bord Pleanála on February 24.

Since then, however, the project has been greeted with radio silence.

The school was left off the NDP’s list of projects moving to tender and construction in 2026 and 2027, and the three TDs (notably, from both government and opposition parties) are seeking an explanation.

Per Ellis, there are two phases to the proposed new development. 

The first phase will be the construction of the new, modern school into which the students will decamp from the “old, dilapidated prefabs.”

The second phase will be the removal of the old prefabs and the building of “much-needed” ASD units, which will include a sensory room as well as special educational needs classrooms. 

The Sinn Féin TD said that the oversight “needs to be addressed” and that St. Aidan’s should be included on the list of the NDP’s priority projects.

“St. Aidan’s CBS Whitehall first opened in 1964 and is part of the very fabric of our community. It has provided an excellent education for generations of boys from around Whitehall, Glasnevin and Ballymun,” Ellis said.

“Over the years, substantial amounts of money have been spent on maintaining the school buildings and 60-year-old prefabs. The demand for secondary school places and applications for admission to St. Aidan’s are high, and the school is always hugely oversubscribed.”

McAuliffe relayed that the school principal met with him, Ellis and Hearne, and there are still lingering question marks whether the project will proceed.

“What is proposed is fantastic; we are talking about 15 classrooms and 15 other rooms, including science labs, construction rooms, technology rooms and special education facilities. It is disappointing that the school is not on the priority list,” he said.

McAuliffe noted that Tánaiste Simon Harris has given “some indication” that other projects will be funded, and said that St. Aidan’s should be on the list of funded projects.

“We also need to make sure that there is no delay in terms of the school’s ability to plan and design the project. Can other elements of the project be progressed while they are waiting for the final construction phase?”

“The school community, the principal and the parents are really passionate about this project. They want it to happen because they know the difference it will make,” the Fianna Fáil TD said.

Hearne said that the school and the wider community have been “waiting too long” for the issue to be rectified.

“What really is causing frustration is the need for clarity from the Department of Education as to why St. Aidan’s is not on the priority list. It should be. It is urgently needed,” the Social Democrats TD said.

Minister Troy explained that the project is currently at stage 2B, which, in plain English, means that the project is in the technical and cost review stage.

Troy explained, “all projects, including this one, are subject to the full due diligence requirements set out in the Department’s infrastructure guidelines.”

“Although this project is not within the first tranche of school building projects recently published in the NDP sectoral investment plan, it remains part of the Department’s overall pipeline of school building projects,” he noted.

“The NDP sectoral plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. In this regard, there will be a strong special education dimension to project roll-out. The Department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years with the continued roll-out of projects on a prioritised basis to meet the most urgent needs in terms of provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing facilities.”

The next stage of the process, he explained, will involve engaging with “key stakeholders and individual schools,” which will inform the government what projects will proceed to the tender process.

In response, Ellis said, “I know the Minister of State said there might be a possibility of some other schools being included. We are urging that they be included as soon as possible to get this moving forward.”

McAuliffe reinforced his point, saying that the existing school is a “very constrained site.”

“There is a portion of it that is owned by the religious order where housing is actually being developed; in the wider Santry area, it is very positive that we have more housing supply, but there is an increasing population” he noted.

“Around the corner on the Swords Road, the Department of Education has planned two 1,000-pupil secondary schools. This morning at the Committee of Public Accounts, the Secretary General of the Department of Education said there were opportunities to include additional projects. St. Aidan’s should be one of those.”

Hearne said, “it is important that St. Aidan’s is included in the new list and is prioritised.”

“I again express the frustration from the school; principal and deputy principal outlined that they had submitted the developed design to the Department in January of this year, but they were still waiting to get a response on that.”

Hearne said the timeframe set out by Minister Troy is too ambiguous, and that the school needs a clear date in mind.

“It would be good to get a very clear timeframe for when the Department is going to give its response in terms of that review, and to give the school some indication of when this is going to be developed,” he said.

Minister Troy asserted that “the Department is committed to ensuring appropriate accommodation is available for all school pupils.”

He reiterated that any school project requires a degree of “due diligence” per the government’s infrastructure guidelines.

Troy said, “the Deputies made a very strong case for the school this evening. Deputy McAuliffe has confirmed what was said at the committee today. It is possible for additional schools to be included in 2026 and 2027.”

“Even for those that are not included in that, the Department is looking at ways to ensure that enabling works can be done so that when a further tranche of money becomes available in 2028, further schools will be added at that stage,” he noted.

“The Department has been as flexible as it can be to ensure the maximum amount of construction work happens in 2026, 2027 and on into 2028.”

He said that the three Dublin North-West TDs made a “compelling” case for the school, and said he would be raising it with government colleagues.