Hammerblow for 12 Donegal schools as government hits pause on funding

School communities across Donegal are devastated to be among 58 building projects nationwide to be stalled due to rising construction costs.

Among them in Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí in Donegal Town which has been operating out of prefabs since it opened in 1999.

After much prolonged effort on the part of its management, staff, parents and local representatives, the design for the Gaelscoil building was finally approved and it got the green light to proceed. Last July, it was announced that it was going to tender. 

This week’s announcement by the government is a major hammerblow for pupils and teachers operating in such difficult conditions, especially after the promise of a wonderful new school building.

A parent who did not wish to be named told the Donegal Democrat /Donegal Live: “It’s heartbreaking that this has happened and we have been failed yet again.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (FG) told the Dáil on Tuesday that other departments were ‘in the same boat.’

He claims that the government intends to resolve the matter by Easter.

Deputy Thomas Pringle TD (Ind) says there are around a dozen schools affected in Donegal. As well as Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí in Donegal Town, projects at various stages including several that were ready to begin construction in Killybegs, Moville, Falcarragh, Gortahork, Kilmacrennan, St Johnston, Illistrin, Milford, Raphoe and Buncrana are affected.

Deputy Pringle is questioning why the government is sitting on its rainy day fund when school construction is being put on hold. 

“They’re saying it’s because of a tight budgetary situation, but the Government is after putting billions into a rainy-day fund,” he said. 

“Surely they could have taken €100 million out of that to keep these projects going.”

Deputy PringleScoil says that Niall Mór school in Killybegs, which has been waiting in an earlier stage of project development, is among those affected.  by the Department’s decision He says that only last month, the state transferred €4 billion into the rainy-day fund, bringing the total balance of the fund to €6 billion.

Deputy Pringle had submitted parliamentary questions to the Minister for Education, asking when the Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí project would be completed, and the children moved into the new building from the prefabs which currently make up the school. 

He said that as recently as October of 2022, the Minister responded that subject to no issues arising, it was envisaged that works could commence on site in the first quarter of this year, 2023. Construction would be completed within an estimated timeframe of 23 months.

However, earlier this year, in response to further questioning from Deputy Pringle, the Minister said the Department will be assessing overall requirements for 2023 and would update individual schools.

Deputy Pringle said: “These schools have been going through this process for years. This is not right. The school community at Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí was expecting to see builders on site, not an email telling them the project was on hold.

“The point is, the money is there. The rainy-day fund has been established. Why is there money in a rainy-day fund when these necessary structural developments have been put on hold?”

A spokesperson for the Department of Education told Donegal Live: “The Department of Education has a strong track record of delivery of school building projects and this was achieved again in 2022 notwithstanding the wider construction sector environment of high inflation, labour shortages and supply chain issues.

“There were circa. 180 school building projects delivered during 2022 which included accelerated delivery of modular accommodation to support provision for 900 pupils with special education needs. 

“In addition over 1,000 small scale repair/improvement projects in schools throughout the country under the Summer Works Scheme and Emergency Works Scheme and 16 deep energy retrofit projects, as part of the climate action agenda through the Energy Pathfinder Programme, were completed. 

“It is also important to note that the Department of Education was very successful in accommodating circa. 15,000 pupils from Ukraine in our schools.”

The Department’s capital outturn for 2022 was €1.12 billion which included a €300m supplementary for capital funding.

The spokesperson continued: “Key priorities for the Department of Education are supporting the operation of the school system and adding necessary capacity to cater for special education needs provision, mainstream demographics and catering for students from Ukraine and other countries under the International Protection system.

“Circa. 300 school building projects continued in construction at the start of 2023, most of which will be completed in 2023/early 2024, this includes over 40 new school buildings. All of these projects are helping to support the operation of our schools, are delivered to the highest standards and are very energy efficient.

“As part of its planning ahead for 2023, the Department is assessing its work programme and priorities in the context of its available funding. It is also engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in relation to capital funding pressures in order to continue to be able to adequately support the operation of the school system with rollout of school building projects to tender and construction in 2023 and minimise project delays to the greatest extent possible.

“There are currently 58 school building projects that are on hold in the Department for proceeding to tender and construction due to capital funding pressures.  

“The Department of Education is very conscious of the need to support the operation of the school system and intends to provide clarity for individual schools about their school building projects as quickly as possible.”