The Department of Education has announced that a new 6 classroom will be built for St. David’s National School, Naas, who will move from their current Dublin road site to the new school on the site of the Pipers Hill complex on the edge of Naas town. This is great news for St. Davids, whom were all out of space where they were, and I wish them the very best in their new home.

But I strongly urge the government to now follow up with immediate action for Pipers Hill CNS who have languished in leaky prefabs for three years now. Pipers Hill CNS school is at the same site and those children need to be taken out of prefabs and given a permanent home. Despite a department inspection and approval in principle, Pipers Hill CNS has yet to even be placed onto the school building waiting list. Not only does this mean the clock has not even started ticking on waiting for buildings, it also means they cannot avail of the standard grants and improvement schemes that the department operate each year.

227 pupils are now attending Pipers Hill CNS, it is a great school but it is overcrowded and surviving on the goodwill of its neighbours. I am calling for Pipers Hill CNS to be immediately placed onto the school building program and I have written to the Minister to request this. I have also asked what use is planned for the brand new school building, currently lying idle up at Craddockstown?

I believe St. Davids had to wait 20 years before getting the good news they got this week. Let’s not let history repeat itself with Pipers Hill CNS.