Minister for Education pressed at meeting over lack of school spaces in north Kildare

The Minister for Education, Richard Bruton, held a meeting yesterday with Kildare County Council and a local TD over plans to establish further permanent school buildings in Celbridge.

The area is in dire need of extra school places, with many parents struggling to find openings for their kids to enroll due to rising populations in the north of the county in recent years, and Celbridge is one of the towns hit by that. There is temporary school accommodation at St Patrick's Primary School and Celbridge Community School, but Kildare North TD Frank O'Rourke has said a plan needs to be put in place for the long term requirements of Celbridge.

The Fianna Fáil TD met Minister Bruton this week to discuss the issue.

“There is no good business case to have temporary accommodation as our school buildings," he said in advance of the meeting.

"Our children and teachers deserve permanent structures, with supporting facilities, to cater for the long-term requirement of Celbridge.”

“I have organised a meeting with Kildare County Council and the Minister for Education to press for permanent school buildings for both Celbridge Community School and St Patricks School. All four TDs have been invited, and I want to ensure that the template used can be rolled out to other parts of the constituency.”

“We need to plan for our school buildings, and the more co-ordination, and focus, we have between the Department of Education and Kildare Co Co the better. Too often, we see different organs of the state working in different directions. I want the Department and Kildare Co Co to have a co-ordinated approach to cater for our school building requirements.”