Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 27 Feb 2025

Vol. 1063 No. 6

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

School Accommodation

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

I am very privileged and proud to represent the people of the constituency of Dublin Fingal West. We are a very young constituency, one that is growing and expanding. We are also a constituency and a community that faces many challenges. I get that some of the challenges cannot be foreseen. I do not blame the Government for things that are outside its control. However, there is nothing more certain that on the day when a child is born, in approximately five years' time that child will need a place in a primary school, and that same child on their first day in primary school will need a place in secondary school when they leave. Nothing I am about to tell the Minister of State was unpredictable. In no way, shape or form was the Government blindsided by the population growth in north County Dublin. In fact, it has been more than well flagged.

I raised this issue previously. There is a young child in my constituency by the name of Kaylen, who needs to be in an ASD unit. His mam has contacted 12 schools and had 12 refusals. There is another case of a family which is moving to Balbriggan. They have three children, two of whom have places. One of their kids is due to go into sixth class, but he cannot get a place. They have tried every school. They are waiting to hear back from one and we all have our fingers crossed. They are being asked now if perhaps the child would consider going into fifth class. They are being told that the sixth class in the school is over the limit prescribed by the Department. In fact, five kids would have to leave to make a space for this child. It is really frustrating.

Every single year I have parents in my office on these issues. I often wonder why my constituency colleagues do not have offices that are open to the public most of the time and then I understand when I see hard cases come in the door because people are at their wits' end. They do not want to be coming to their local TD, they just want their kids to have a place in school. That should be something fairly basic.

I am just off the phone to Councillor Malachy Quinn, who is just out of his clinic. A woman who was in with him has applied to 15 schools and still does not have a place. When I was first elected here, nine years ago, the scramble for school places usually did not start until in or around Easter, but now it is starting earlier. The Minister of State is nodding because he knows that is the case. It is the same in his constituency office. It is starting earlier every year.

We have some unique features in north County Dublin, which is that if we expand the capacity for schools there, the population to meet that is coming up. It is not the case that we might add an extra prefab and there will not be any need for it in a couple of years' time. We have a steady pipeline.

Rush National School has been waiting for a new school building for 18 years. Eighteen years ago the population was a fraction of what it is today. The population in Rush has increased tremendously and yet it is still left waiting. There has been delay after delay for 18 years. I could paper the walls here with the announcements made by my former constituency colleagues from the Government benches about this school. It was announced, re-announced and announced again that the new school building was coming. Perhaps the Minister of State will be able to provide me with some details in regard to it.

Will the Minister of State confirm that every single school in my constituency that can accommodate additional places will be facilitated with the resources and the backing of the Department to do just that?

Minister of State at the Department of Education (Deputy Michael Moynihan)

I thank Deputy O'Reilly very much for the question about additional school places in Fingal West. I thank her for raising this matter, which gives me the opportunity to set out to the Dáil the position with regard to a shortfall of school places at both primary and secondary levels in Fingal West.

It is an absolute priority to ensure that every child in the State has access to a school place. The Department of Education is continually planning for and investing in existing and new schools to ensure this is the case. The annual enrolment process for new junior infants at primary level and new first years at post-primary level is a very large-scale operation that is transacted at close to 4,000 schools throughout the country, involving some 140,000 pupils.

Enrolment pressures can be driven by duplications of applications, applications from outside an area, and school-of-choice factors. Since 2020, the Department of Education has invested more than €5.7 billion in schools throughout the country, involving the completion of more than 1,150 school building projects and with construction under way at approximately 300 other projects, which includes 40 new school buildings. The 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of more than €1.3 billion. The Department has invested more than €1.3 billion in school infrastructure in County Dublin over the period since 2020.

With regard to Fingal West, there are a number of active projects at primary and post-primary levels in progress, which will increase capacity. These projects include a new school building project for St. Molaga's National School in Balbriggan, which will provide 19 mainstream classrooms and two special education classrooms. The project is currently at stage 3 - procurement. In addition, there is a new school building project under way for Rush National School, which will provide 32 mainstream classrooms and two special education classrooms. The project is at construction stage. A project was also recently completed for Rush and Lusk Educate Together National School, providing a brand new, state-of-the-art 16-classroom school and two special education classrooms.

At post-primary level, there is a project under way for St. Joseph's Secondary School in Rush, which will provide accommodation for 1,000 pupils plus four special education classrooms.

This project is currently at stage 2b. There is also an extension under way at Balbriggan Community College to provide for a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils, with two special education classrooms. A project was also completed recently for Lusk Community College. This provided accommodation for a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 and two special education classrooms.

Nationally, Ireland has been experiencing growth in overall post-primary enrolment, and this is projected to continue in many parts of the country for the coming years before declining. However, first-year enrolments are expected to be found to have peaked nationally in the 2023-24 school year. They will begin to decline from this year. At primary level, there is generally good capacity across the country, although there are some areas under continuing demographic pressure. While there can be enrolment pressures in some areas experiencing significant demographic growth, at both primary and post-primary level there is school accommodation capacity either in or near all areas of the country. To assist with the enrolment of children without a school place, the Department shares information on available capacity with the education welfare service, which is part of Tusla's educational support service and which operates under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention.

My Department has put in place a number of measures to support post-primary schools in managing and effectively co-ordinating their admissions processes. These measures include improvements to the post-primary online database student registration system to help identify students who have accepted multiple places, writing to parents of sixth class children with advice on the admissions process, including Fingal West, and strengthening the data-sharing arrangements with schools in areas of enrolment pressure.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. He spoke about some of the pressures being created, such as those caused by the duplication of applications. I have sympathy for parents who make duplicate applications, particularly because they feel they have no choice. When they come into my office, we have a conversation and talk about what they are doing. They are being told by the schools to collect their refusals and then lodge a section 29 appeal. That is really stressful. This is for something very basic, namely a school place for their child. They are not looking to go to space. It is just something very simple and very basic that a decent, functioning society, led by a similar government, would be able to provide.

What am I to advise parents to do now? Am I just to tell them to collect their refusals and appeal under section 29? Will there be communication from the Department? The schools are writing to the Department and I am the parents' last port of call. They try everything else before they come to me. They have already been through all the steps. Maybe the Minister of State can tell me what I am supposed to say to them. They understand the point about duplicate applications and the demographic pressures and that if there are only 20 seats in a classroom, only 20 kids can go into it. However, they are concerned about what seat their child will sit in and what place will be available for their child. It is incredibly stressful. The Minister of State knows what kids are like. They all talk about the secondary school they will be going to, or, if they are in the naoínra, the primary school. Far too many children are going home to their parents asking them where they will be going to school. The parents do not know, which really causes them a great deal of stress. They do not know whether their children will have to get transport. They cannot make plans. Very often in my constituency, both parents will be working and commuting long hours to get to and from work. They need some certainty.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

The Deputy mentioned someone waiting for an ASD class. Since I was appointed just over four weeks ago, we have had considerable engagement with senior officials in the Department and the National Council for Special Education to ensure sufficient places for children with additional needs come September. We have moved the discussion back from one later in the year. Our aim is to move it back further to have certainly for all children, particularly those with additional needs. Families are under enough pressure. I am working with the officials in the Department, and I feel very strongly about this matter. Like every other Deputy, I have met the parents and know the challenges and issues that exist.

On school places, we understand that huge population growth is taking place in Fingal West. We also know there are issues with getting school places. The important thing is that the parents continue to engage with the school authorities. The Department is constantly monitoring where the pressures are to try to address this. It is a fact that the Department, together with school communities the length and breadth of the country, is going to work might and main to ensure every child has a proper place, be it at primary or secondary level, come September. The information needs to be with parents and children much earlier in the school cycle.

School Patronage

Deputy Barry Ward

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire Stáit as a phost nua. Go n-éirí leis.

We have had a really positive change in recent years in the way we assess patronage in schools. That communities actually get to have a say and indicate to the Department very directly the kind of school they want represents a very positive change by comparison with where we were when I was growing up. I have expressed the view before that it is probably unlikely that we will ever again have a Catholic school established under new patronage in this country because the reality is that communities are choosing to rebalance the way our schools are operated away from that kind of patronage and towards different forms that give a different service to different communities and address the needs that exist in them. However, the way the Department assesses that need is by way of a plebiscite in a geographic area. Therefore, if there is to be a school in a particular area, the Department will ask the people who live there what kind of school they want. That is legitimate in its own way.

The difficulty that applies in my constituency, Dún Laoghaire, in particular but also across the whole of Dublin is that the geographic area is not necessarily the only community served by the relevant school. With extensive transport links throughout Dublin, including the DART and Luas lines and the new BusConnects spines that go through the city, people may travel quite a substantial distance to get to school. Therefore, the community served by a new school may be much larger than the one next door to it or down the road from it. This is particularly true of post-primary schools. The example that comes to mind for me is Cherrywood, Dublin. The local authority for the Dún Laoghaire area, certainly when I was a member of it, spent a great deal of time and energy putting together a de facto new city in Cherrywood. That is now starting to fill out with a new population and it is a wonderful, diverse place. As it fills up with shops and services, including schools, it will make for a really great place to live. It is already a great place to live, but as the things I have mentioned come, it will really come into its own. There are sites within Cherrywood that have been identified for new schools, one of which is for a post-primary school. There is already another post-primary school. Blackrock Educate Together Secondary School, which will eventually be located at the top of Newtownpark Avenue, is temporarily resident in the Educate Together primary school in Cherrywood. However, there is another site earmarked for a post-primary school.

One of the big issues is that if there is a plebiscite only in the Cherrywood area, it ignores the fact that the end of the Luas line is in Cherrywood. The Luas serves people all the way into town. Anybody who lives on the Luas line, whether it is in somewhere like Ranelagh or farther afield, can very easily get to school on the Luas. Therefore, consideration of where patronage extends should account for an area beyond Cherrywood. The reason I make this point is that there is currently a campaign under way by people seeking a Gaelcholáiste in the area. There are a number of Gaelscoileanna in the area, particularly outside the immediate catchment area of Cherrywood, the Dún Laoghaire constituency included. Although we have a Gaelcholáiste, Coláiste Ráithín in Bray, and Coláiste Eoin and Coláiste Íosagáin in Stillorgan, there is not a school available for the people who are graduating out of the Gaelscoileanna, a Gaelcholáiste, for them to continue their education trí mheán na Gaeilge.

If you apply the strict criterion of just asking the people who live in a strict geographic area what kind of school they want, it is less likely that they will say a Gaelcholáiste. Therefore, there is a whole community of people whose children are leaving a Gaelscoil and graduating into the secondary school arena who would love to have education through Irish but who, because of the narrow system the Department operates, are not really recognised. Patronage is important but An Foras Patrúnachta, which has done great work in this area, is at a little bit of a loss in this regard. I wonder whether the system can be extended a little more flexibly.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the criteria for school patronage. He mentioned a specific issue in his own constituency. The reply I have relates to the specifics of how school patronage works. I will outline that and might come back to him later on the specific issue, if that is okay.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It gives me the opportunity to report to Dáil Éireann the position with regard to the selection of school patronage for newly established schools. Since 2011, new arrangements have been in place for the establishment of new schools involving the forecasting of demand for school places based on the demographic exercises carried out by the Department of Education. New schools are only established in areas of demographic growth as the resources available for school infrastructure have to be prioritised to meet the needs of areas of significant population increase so as to ensure that every child has a school place.

These new arrangements also give an opportunity to patrons to apply for the patronage of new schools. The criteria used in deciding on the patronage of new schools place a particular emphasis on parental preference, as the Deputy referenced, language preferences and an analysis of existing provision in the areas where the schools are being established. This approach is underpinned by a 2011 Government decision.

The patronage process is open to all patron bodies and prospective patrons. An online patronage process system, OPPS, has been in operation under the Department since 2018 and provides objective information to parents in the relevant school planning areas to assist them in making an informed choice about their preferred model of patronage and language of instruction for the new school. When the Department announces that a new school entity is required, a prospective patron can choose the school it wishes to apply for and complete an application form in that regard for each school for submission to the Department. The Department provides details on the OPPS of the school and the list of applicant patrons which have applied for patronage of the school. Parents can then access the appropriate survey for their area, to input the details of the eligible child or children and to select their preferred patron and language of instruction, with the exception of the Irish-medium primary Gaelscoileanna that have been designated as an Irish medium prior to the opening of the OPPS. In the case of those schools, parents can select their preferred patron.

Parental preferences, as well as other considerations, such as the extent of diversity of provision in an area, are key to the decision-making process and to whether at post-primary level a school would take the form of a Gaelscoileanna or whether, if English medium, the school would include an Irish-medium unit.

The patronage process for new schools is overseen by an external independent advisory group. The group then reports to the Minister on the patronage of the school. Following their consideration of the Department's assessment reports, the new schools establishment group, NSEG, submits a report with recommendations to the Minister for consideration and final decision. The assessment reports and the NSEG recommendations for all such patronage processes are made available on the education section of the Government website.

Deputy Barry Ward

I appreciate entirely what the Minister of State said. The OPPS is excellent. The way we have changed how we assess patronage is a good thing. I also appreciate what the Minister of State said about the criteria. The key in his answer is that the process is open and "provides objective information to parents in the relevant school planning areas". That is the difficulty I have. If we are only taking about parents in a specific area, we are excluding parents outside that area. It is a particular problem.

I did not give the Minister of State advance notice that I was going to talk about Cherrywood so I absolutely accept that he does not have that specific information. It is, however, a principle that applies across the country in relation to Gaeloideachas. There are necessarily fewer Irish speakers in a non-Gaeltacht community so they are going to be spread across a wider area, notwithstanding the fact that there are enough of them to justify a Gaelcholáiste. That is the issue. I can tell the Minister of State, from the point of view of a layperson, that the school planning areas are something of a mystery. They do not follow the criteria one might normally expect. If we stick to those areas, we are excluding people from a wider community who wish to come together to form a school committee that follows a particular and, according to the Minister of State's reply, diverse criteria. I use the example of Cherrywood. There are people from a wider area than just that school catchment area who dearly want a Gaelcholáiste in Cherrywood. It is an area that has been identified as needing a secondary school. Even a site has been identified. Will the Minister of State bring back to the Department the proposal that if we are truly to achieve the kind of diversity we are trying to eke out in terms of schools, we change that strict geographic criterion in respect of the assessment of patronage? We should ask people beyond that area if there is a basis on which we can put together a school that is a little bit different, in this instance, a Gaelcholáiste, a scoil trí mheán na Gaeilge.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

Some of the long-established Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí, primary and post-primary schools that have developed across the country in the past 25 or 30 years, contrary to the criteria we now apply, were set up by local groups and in small entities. They have flourished and grown. I take the point that certain criteria are stifling development.

I will take this specific issue back to the Department and will get a reply. I can continue on in relation to patronage. The Deputy fully understands the issues that are there and the system in place. I will not labour the point. I will take back his concerns and will see that a reply is issued to him. I understand what he is saying.

Tax Code

Deputy Malcolm Byrne

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, for taking this question on behalf of the Government. We had a useful debate on the future of healthcare yesterday. He will be aware of that. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, spoke about the success in Ireland where we now have a life expectancy of 82.6 years. As she rightly pointed out, our aim is not just to live longer but also to live healthier lives. The Minister used Government statistics to point out that over the next 20 years, the numbers aged 65 to 84 in this country will grow by 65% and those aged over 85 will more than double. That is a remarkable success in terms of life expectancy. One of the challenges for many people as they grow older is that they are not necessarily as healthy as they could or should be.

We know, for instance, that a teenager today has a one in five chance of living to the age of 100. A baby born today has a one in three chance of living to the age of 100. We need to start to think in the long term about how we can ensure that people lead healthy lives throughout the many decades they are going to live. One of the problems is that because of physical activity, it leads to a greater demand on our health service. The World Health Organization last year measured Ireland's physical activity and estimated that the cost of physical activity in Ireland was of the order of €1.5 billion per year.

With that in mind, and as we are trying to encourage healthier lives, physical and mental well-being, a number of us have for quite a while been advocating the concept of gym membership to encourage people to get involved in gym and other physical activities as a way not necessarily to build big muscles, although that should not be discouraged, but to encourage flexibility and the maintenance of muscle and balance. My colleagues Deputy Dolan and the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, have been strong on these issues. In the budget last October, the then Minister for Finance, Deputy Chambers, indicated that his Department would review and examine the possibilities of how such a tax relief measure would operate. It was, as the Minister of State will be aware, also contained in the programme for Government. There has been an active campaign by the Irish Physical Activity Alliance, led by Darina Dunne, to ensure that gyms would be responsive if the Government were to initiate this campaign.

There are quite a number of examples around the world where other governments have adopted this approach, particularly in a number of the provinces in Canada. I will give just one example. Newfoundland and Labrador has a physical activity tax credit. In that case, every family can apply for up to 2,000 CAD of a tax credit but there is a requirement in terms of their gym or activity membership: "It must involve significant physical activity that improves cardiorespiratory endurance, as well as muscular strength, flexibility or balance."

There are similar schemes operating across a number of the other Canadian provinces, including Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Yukon. In Singapore, retirees receive free gym membership as part of the Age Well SG programme. The impact of that is seen in the fact the number of older Singaporeans who require hospital or nursing home care has been reduced significantly.

This is a health promotion measure and as the Minister of State who has responsibility for older people at the Department of Health, I hope the Minister of State supports this in addition to indicating on behalf of the Department of Finance what research has been done.

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Kieran O'Donnell)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister for Finance. As Deputy Byrne will be aware, the programme for Government, Securing Ireland's Future, includes a commitment to "Consider measures, in conjunction with the Department of Finance, to encourage gym membership and active participation in sport and exercise". The programme for Government also acknowledges that "sport holds a special place in Irish life and society ... promoting health and well-being, encouraging community participation and instilling a sense of pride in our people". It also commits to supporting our sporting ecosystem so more people can participate, reap the benefits of sport and fulfil their potential from grassroots right up to high-performance level. This can be achieved through a variety of means including increased participation, education, increased funding, supporting high performance and governance.

On the commitment to consider measures to encourage gym membership and active participation in sport and exercise, officials in the Department of Finance will consider the matter over the coming months with the expectation that an update of the examination will be provided as part of the annual tax strategy group process during the summer. That normally comes out around July. In line with best practice and as with all proposals for the introduction of new tax measures or the amendment of existing tax reliefs, the proposal to encourage gym membership and active participation in sport and exercise through the tax system must be assessed in accordance with the Department of Finance’s tax expenditure guidelines. These make clear the importance that any policy proposal that involves tax expenditures should only occur in limited circumstances where there are demonstrable market failures and where a tax-based incentive is more efficient than a direct expenditure intervention. Any decisions regarding taxation measures are made in the context of the annual budget and Finance Bill processes at the appropriate time and having regard to available resources and the sound management of the public finances.

I take this opportunity to note that the tax code already provides for a number of fitness-based measures more generally. For example, the cycle to work scheme provides that bicycles and associated safety equipment provided by employers to employees will be treated as a tax exempt benefit-in-kind, subject to certain conditions being met. One of the benefits envisaged from the scheme was that more people cycling to and from work would improve health and fitness levels. In addition, the accelerated capital allowances scheme for childcare facilities and fitness centres encourages employers to develop on-site childcare facilities and fitness centres for their employees. The scheme provides accelerated allowances for qualifying buildings or structures over a seven-year period and accelerated allowances for related equipment at 100% for a year.

Officials in the Department will consider measures to encourage gym membership and active participation in sport and exercise over the course of the coming months. It is expected an update on this work will be outlined in the annual tax strategy group process during the summer.

As the Minister of State with responsibility for older people, I take the Deputy's point about the benefits. People are living longer and being more active and going to the gym is of benefit to all age groups, including the older cohort.

Deputy Malcolm Byrne

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I welcome that we will see details when the annual tax strategy group process develops over the summer. I ask the Minister of State to input into this process given he has responsibility for older people.

That was a little bit of a standard Department of Finance answer in that the officials are obviously concerned about potential loss of tax income, but this must be seen as a health promotion measure. I cited the World Health Organization figures on the cost not just to the economy but also to the health service as a result of inactivity. If, as expected, nursing home demand in Ireland increases by 123% by 2031 that is going to cost the State over €500 million every year. We are trying to encourage people to live longer, but also to have healthier lives, and gym membership is very much part of that. If we can incentivise or encourage people and even if it is part of the senior citizens’ package – the State has been rightly proud of how we have supported senior citizens over the years – it is something that should be considered. It is obviously not just for those aged 65 or 66 years or older because as we get into our 40s and 50s the challenge is as great.

I ask the Minister of State to take it back to the Department, especially with reference to his brief, to look at the experiences in Canada and Singapore, to consider this as a health promotion measure and to engage with the Irish Physical Activity Alliance and gyms around the country to talk about how this would work. I would love to see the commitment in the programme for Government being met in time for budget 2026.

Deputy Kieran O'Donnell

I thank the Deputy. I have listened to the points he has raised, which are very comprehensive in nature. We all agree on the importance of encouraging greater participation in sport and fitness activities and continuing to support to those already participating in sport across all age groups. This acknowledgement is underpinned through the programme for Government commitment, as the Deputy stated. This includes supporting our sporting ecosystem so more people can participate, reap the benefits of sport and fill their potential from grassroots right up to high-performance level.

There are a range of relevant considerations about the tax relief for gym membership raised by the Deputy that must be taken into account and I will give an overview. These considerations include whether tax relief is the best approach to achieving greater participation in sport and fitness activity. There are individual households that do not have a tax liability for whatever reason, so a tax measure would not be of benefit to them. There is the matter of how one defines what comes within the scope of the measure and how much tax relief for gym membership would cost, which the Deputy has already alluded to. With any budget there is a decision to be made regarding the allocation of tax measures, and cost is a very relevant consideration. There is also consideration of what impact the tax relief would have. The Deputy has outlined some of that. There is the question of whether it would result in increased sport participation, as well as whether it would simply benefit those who are already members of gyms. In other words, we must ask whether it would have an incentive effect. With that said, the Department of Finance will continue to consider the issue with a view to providing an update as part of the annual tax strategy group this summer.

Hospital Facilities

Deputy Martin Daly

I wish to highlight the urgent need for the long-promised rehabilitation unit at Roscommon University Hospital. In 2015 a commitment was made for a €7.8 million investment to provide 20 dedicated rehabilitation beds, yet despite entering detailed design phase in 2021, the appointment of a design team in 2022 and further design assessments in 2023, the rehab unit was abruptly omitted from the HSE Capital Plan 2024 without explanation.

We face a 50% shortfall in neurorehabilitation beds nationwide with huge geographical disparities in bed availability, which ranges from 6.4 beds per 100,000 people to 45 beds per 100,000 people. I assume the latter applies in the Dublin area. Patients in the west of Ireland are left with limited or delayed access to specialist rehabilitation at a centre remote from them in Dublin. This is resulting in unsuitable care settings and long-term dependency. This is both clinically inappropriate and economically unsustainable.

The evidence is clear that specialised rehabilitation is the most cost-effective intervention. Data from intervention trials for sudden-onset neurological conditions, progressive or intermittent neurological conditions or limb absence show a significant reduction in dependency and ongoing care cost. The greatest savings are in the high-dependency group and the cost of intervention is recouped after only 16 months. This is in stark contrast to late intervention in non-specialised environments, which leads to significantly higher costs for the State. This is not simply a healthcare issue but an economic one. Investing in a dedicated rehabilitation unit in Roscommon University Hospital would be a proven, evidence-based solution that will improve accessibility and patients' outcomes, reduce long-term healthcare dependency and ultimately save the State millions in avoidable disability and ongoing care costs.

In spite of the deep disappointment at the reconfiguration in 2011, Roscommon University Hospital has reimagined itself as a very successful model 2 hospital. It has a successful medical assessment unit, which is a unit of choice for older people in the area. It has a successful regional gastrointestinal endoscopy unit and a minor injuries unit that serves not just Roscommon, but east Galway, Mayo, Longford and Westmeath.

The people of Roscommon-Galway were promised a model 2 hospital that would be developed to its maximum potential. However, the outpatient department, built in 1947, lacks a disabled toilet and adequate wheelchair access, which is astonishing. Given the current emphasis on disability in the programme for Government, one would expect all outpatient departments to be disability-proofed infrastructure.

I urge the Minister of State to expedite this long overdue project and ensure this regional rehabilitation infrastructure is delivered as planned in Roscommon University Hospital. The reasons for choosing Roscommon University Hospital in 2015 could not have changed substantially in the intervening years. The people of Roscommon-Galway deserve a transparent explanation as to why this piece of critical infrastructure appears to have been mothballed.

Deputy Kieran O'Donnell

I thank Deputy Daly for giving me the opportunity to update the house on behalf of the Minister for Health on the developments at Roscommon University Hospital.

To ensure delivery of the right care in the right place at the right time, there are robust systems and procedures to appraise, manage and deliver infrastructure projects required for the provision of health services. Projects are appraised by the national capital and property steering committee of the HSE. This is to ensure compliance with service priorities and policies and the feasibility of delivery. It also ensures alignment with the national service and capital plans. The national capital and property steering committee then recommends projects for inclusion in the capital investment programme. A prioritisation process is conducted to inform the annual capital plan.

A review of the spatial plan at Roscommon University Hospital was re-initiated in 2024 following the completion of the hospice built off the hospital site, the need to update site ward expansion and the replacement of existing facilities with modern and compliant accommodation. A possible site for the replacement acute adult mental health unit was to be considered.

The Minister for Health has been informed by the HSE that the physical review of space has been substantially completed, based on a brief confirmed by the hospital service. In recent weeks, HSE capital and estates and integrated health area management have requested that clinical planning consultants be engaged to verify service brief requirements included in the updated version of the spatial plan 2024-25 and in alignment with other hospitals in the catchment and national programmes. The rehabilitation unit at Roscommon University Hospital is a project currently included in the updated exercise of the spatial plan 2024-25.

The development of new or refurbished healthcare facilities anywhere in the country cannot be seen in isolation or separate from the delivery of related healthcare services. Projects are approved by HSE services before being submitted to a HSE central steering committee for approval and then progressing through the capital process. Once approved by the HSE central steering committee, the project is eligible for prioritisation and inclusion in the capital plan, subject to the level of funding.

In addition to the above process, and to enhance capital investment, the Department of Health has developed and published a strategic health investment framework to ensure investments are evidence based and equitable and that Sláintecare reforms are achieved, with the overall objective of having better health outcomes for the population of Ireland.

The strategic health investment framework is a high-level framework which sets out the investment criteria and an intervention hierarchy based on the principle of continuity of care by which all capital investment proposals in the public health sector are to be assessed. The capital plan is an annual document that sets out the planned health infrastructure investment within a given year. Capital investment plays a critical role in enabling and enhancing health service provision. The capital plan 2025 will outline the planned investment in health infrastructure throughout the country. It is expected the capital plan will be published the coming weeks in line with established procedures.

Deputy Martin Daly

I can take it that the Minister of State is confirming that the rehabilitation unit in Roscommon University Hospital is still planned for the area and is undergoing review in the spatial assessment he described. The people of Roscommon have reason to be suspicious. They feel that, after reconfiguration, for which a whole host of new services were developed, including a successful medical assessment unit and injuries and endoscopy units, things in the hospital have been left in abeyance.

As I have pointed out, the outpatients department is not fit for purpose. It was built in 1947. The endoscopy unit cannot expand to ENT and neurological endoscopy for want of a decontamination unit. The injuries unit cannot expand its service because of a shortage of advanced nurse practitioners. In addition, elderly and frail people are going to memory and frailty clinics but cannot park on the grounds of Roscommon hospital. They have to walk from the local GAA grounds, which are about 500 m away, in spite of there being adequate space around Roscommon University Hospital.

The people of Roscommon need to be reassured that in the deal proposed to them after the reconfiguration of the hospital, which deeply disappointed people in the area, the State will not forget investment in what is a critical piece of infrastructure in the delivery of healthcare in the west. I am happy the Minister of State has confirmed that the rehabilitation unit has not been removed from the planning of health services in Roscommon.

Deputy Kieran O'Donnell

Once again, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is very important to the people of Roscommon. Roscommon University Hospital is a model 2 hospital in the HSE west and north-west region which provides vital services to the local population. There are robust systems and procedures to appraise management of and deliver health infrastructure projects to ensure delivery of the right care in the right place at the right time.

As I have stated, a review of the spatial plan at Roscommon hospital has been concluded and a clinical planning consultant is being engaged to verify service brief requirements, including the updated version of the spatial plan as well as an alignment with other hospitals in the catchment and national programmes. The rehabilitation unit at Roscommon University Hospital is a project currently included in the updated version of the spatial plan 2024-25.

The development of new or refurbished healthcare facilities anywhere in the country cannot be seen in isolation or separate from the delivery of related healthcare services. The capital plan is an annual document that sets out the planned health infrastructure investment in a given year. Capital investment plays a critical role in enabling and enhancing health service provision. The capital plan 2025 will outline the planned investment in health infrastructure throughout the country. As I have stated, it is expected the capital plan will be published in the coming weeks, in line with established procedures.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar athló ar 5.48 p.m. go dtí 2 p.m., Dé Máirt, an 4 Márta 2025.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.48 p.m. until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 4 March 2025.