Concerns raised in the Dáil that Louth schools can't accommodate enrolment increase

Sinn Féin TD for Louth Ruairí Ó Murchú has raised problems with accommodation at schools in North Louth in the Dáil.

Deputy Ó Murchú named Issues schools St Mochtas NS in Louth Village, Shelagh NS and Monskland NS in Cooley through a Topical Issue debate.

The Sinn Féin TD said there had been a large amount of
correspondence between St Mochtas NS and the Department of
Education about how quickly the school is growing.

He said the principal of the school has told the department that its situation has "evolved very quickly due to a new large scale residential development but this was flagged last year and the enrolment has increased by 40 children in the past year due to construction in the area".

"A new development of 58 houses is nearing completion in Louth village
requiring three extra classes and teachers and no accommodation for
them."

"The Special Education teachers are working in corridors, cupboards and
in the staff room and the school building, originally built for five classes,
is expected to house nine classes come September 2026," he said

Deputy Ó Murchú also raised the issue of additional autism classes for
Shelagh NS, where he said there is no movement and "the principal is not
happy in any way, shape or form, nor are a considerable number of
parents".

He said plans went in for a permanent extension at Monksland NS, including two autism classrooms, one support room, one common area, a kitchen, a living skills room, toilets, a storeroom and an office. He said it was provided with two modular units, which are being used to their full capacity.

“We are dealing with teachers and SNAs who are having their lunch in storage units or their cars. The over and back from the Department is disgraceful,” he said.

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Minister of State at the Department of Education, Michael Moynihan
said the St Mochtas NS application is "under assessment".
He confirmed Monksland NS has an enrolment of 139 pupils, including two
special classes.

The school applied for additional accommodation in
2022, and on foot of that application had modular accommodation comprising two special education classrooms and one special education
tuition room delivered in May 2023.

Shelagh NS has an enrolment of 82, including pupils in its special
education class, which was established in 2024. In October 2025, the
school submitted an application for additional accommodation for two
mainstream classrooms, and the application is currently being assessed
by officials in the Department.

"At a national level, primary enrolments are projected to decline by almost 100,000 over a ten-year period."

"Given the general downward direction of overall enrolments in the area,
the Department's focus for the assessment of such additional
accommodation applications will be to analyse the extent to which
enrolments at the school and neighbouring schools are serving the local
area in the first instance."

“We are looking carefully at all applications to ensure we maximise what
we have in terms of additional accommodation for the schools raised by
the Deputy”.

Deputy Ó Murchú said he accepted the Minister’s point of view that some of the Louth applications are "technically new" but said they came after a "considerable number of years of over and back between principals and the Department of Education".

"There is absolute frustration among the schools. Talk of
assessments and demographics is not going to help that."

"In the nicest way I can put it, the communication with the schools has
been subpar”, he said.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.