'Mean-spirited' delay of Laois school that has 'no ventilation, is damp and completely unsuitable'

The Fine Gael Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council called on her party colleague and Government Minister responsible for Special Education and Inclusion to intervene on behalf of 40 children with profound disabilities who attend a Portlaoise school completely unsuitable to meet their needs.

Cllr Thomasina Connnell has written to Minister Josepha Madigan in the Department of Education after the Kolbe School was told that a new €9 million purpose-built school is on hold.

The delay appears to have come on the back of an intervention by Fine Gael's Minister for Public Expenditure, Paschal Donohoe who wants to check if there is a enough money in a €12 bill National Development Plan fund to cover the cost of a new Kolbe school and more than 50 like it around the country.

However, Cllr Connell insisted that the delay to the Kolbe school should not have happened simply becuase of the state of the building.

"The conditions at Kolbe Special School are nothing short of deplorable. The current school operates in one main building and associated prefabs. I am informed that these prefabs have no adequate ventilation, are consistently damp and are completely unsuitable to meet the complex needs of the children who attend Kolbe," she wrote to Minister Madigan. 

"In withdrawing funding for this school’s project, whose students have a particularly high level of need is especially mean-spirited. Indeed, it would appear at best to be a significant error and at worst a total failing of the States’ Constitutional responsibility to the students who attend Kolbe to allow the current conditions to continue.

Heartbreak as school for most vulnerable children in Laois put on hold

"I would urge you to make contact with your colleague Minister Norma Foley in the Department of Education immediately with a view to meeting her to discuss how solutions can be found so that the funding for this project is made available and the works can proceed in the very near future," said Cllr Connell.

The Department of Education had already given the green light to Kolbe. Plans have been drawn up, costings done, planning permission obtained. 

Minister Paschal Donohoe told RTÉ that checks are being carried out on the amount of money available.

"But what we need to do is look at all of the different capital projects that we have underway across the country and make sure we have the funding in place to deliver them all," he said.

Minister doesn't know if there is enough money in €12 bill pot to pay for Laois school for children with profound disabilities

See below full text of letter from Cllr Connell to Minister Madigan 

9th March 2023

Re: Development Project at Kolbe Special School, Portlaoise, Co. Laois 

Dear Minister,

I write in relation to the Kolbe Special School in Portlaoise, and the recent communications received by the school’s Board of Management to the effect that the proposed extensive building works which had been promised for many years would be put on hold indefinitely. 

This news came as a huge shock to the Board, and of course to the students who attend Kolbe, their parents, teachers and staff. The conditions at Kolbe Special School are nothing short of deplorable. The current school operates in one main building and associated prefabs. I am informed that these prefabs have no adequate ventilation, are consistently damp and are completely unsuitable to meet the complex needs of the children who attend Kolbe. 

The project has recently been granted planning permission, being approval for the construction of eight classrooms, a hall, specialist educational spaces, and administration areas. Externally, approval was granted for appropriate minibus drop-off spaces and external recreational areas. 

It would appear now that the Department of Education has made the decision to withdraw the funding required for this long-awaited project. In withdrawing funding for this school’s project, whose students have a particularly high level of need is especially mean-spirited. Indeed, it would appear at best to be a significant error and at worst a total failing of the States’ Constitutional responsibility to the students who attend Kolbe to allow the current conditions to continue.

I would urge you to make contact with your colleague Minister Norma Foley in the Department of Education immediately with a view to meeting her to discuss how solutions can be found so that the funding for this project is made available and the works can proceed in the very near future. 

I note from the communication from the Department of Education to the school’s Board that the work programme for 2023 was to be reassessed with a view to certain priority requirements.  With all due respect, Kolbe needs to be made a priority in light of the current poor condition of the school and the educational environment that its students have to tolerate on a daily basis. 

In the event that funding continues to be withheld, the least that could be done is for the Department of Education to provide an explanation to include as to how it identified projects that it considered more of a priority than the project at Kolbe, a school where some of the most vulnerable children in our society attend. 

I do feel that you would have a far better appreciation for what I have set out above in terms of the conditions these children are forced to endure if you would attend at Kolbe school; an invitation I know the Board would be keen to extend to you. 

I am asking you to do all within your power to have the decision to pause the proposed project for Kolbe Special School overturned.  

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Yours sincerely, 

Cllr. Thomasina Connell 

Cathaoirleach Laois County Council