Kildare school 'unsafe' and poses 'a serious and immediate threat' to occupants and users – report

Four of Kildare North’s TDs have sought joint speaking time in the Dail to address the damning findings of an architect’s report which found that St Patrick’s Primary School in Celbridge was “unsafe and posed a serious and immediate threat to the well-being, health and safety of the occupants and users”.

The assessment, which was conducted almost a year ago in March 2025 by architect Martin Noone, was commissioned by the school principal, and was submitted to the Department of Education alongside multiple Emergency Works Applications by the school to fix the issues which have been raised in the report.

That report was uncovered in response to a Freedom of Information request which was submitted by the parent of children in the school.

Kildare North TD Aidan Farrelly (SD), coordinated with his fellow North Kildare TDs Reada Cronin (SF), Naoise O Cearúil (FF) and Joe Neville (FG) after reading the report.

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“I have great concerns that despite the assessment being completed in March of 2025, the Department of Education was slow to engage meaningfully with the immediate problems at St Patrick’s until children were sent home from school in January - despite knowing for some time that the building was unsafe”, Deputy Farrelly said.

“We know that the school made an application for emergency funding as early as June of last year on foot of the report and have been liaising with the Department ever since.

“I approached my fellow TDs because I wanted to take the politics out of it. The safety of our children is too important for that.

“To be clear, this report found that the prefabs which house the school were never meant to be used for 20 years. This is a failure of the successive governments and Ministers for Education over the past decade who must have known that the buildings were well past their safe use.

“And I fully intend to question the Department of Education about this on Thursday when they come before the Public Accounts Committee.”

On the first page of his report Mr Noone states: "I am of the opinion that the existing building in the current condition is not fit for purpose to operate without considerable risk to the occupants and users as a school.

He later says: “Due to the extensive failure of the ground floor] plate, on which internal partitions appear to bear, it is a concern that walls have structurally deformed in some areas, affecting or contributing to the failures in fire doors and external and escape doors to open and close as required."

His report covered building defects, floors, ceilings, the roof, external walls and windows and found problems with all of them, including rotting floorboards, evidence of water getting into the walls.

He also recommended the need for more insulation and the installation of a ventilation system to reduce condensation.

Mr Noone’s report noted that the majority of the external doors are failing for a multiple of reasons, adding that they all needed to be reframed and replaced.

“With a few exceptions, windows appear generally sound, albeit with thermal performance acceptable 20 years ago,” his report stated.

Elsewhere the report included photographic evidence of structural distortion in the floors, lights falling from their fixings, emergency lights falling from the ceiling, corridor fire doors failing as a result of distortion to the frame, ceilings damaged from overhead leaks, radiators falling from the walls and outside, surface water accumulating and not getting away.

He also noted “rodent burrows visible in several locations, at gullies and drains”.

On January 22 of this year a leak forced the closure of a junior infants classroom and the children were sent home for the day.

This prompted the Department of Education to say that an assessor would attend the school to examine the damage and fast-track remedial works - and they approved the installation of two modular units to cater for the school’s more immediate need. 

This was on foot of the school’s applications for funding under Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) for life safety system, fabric defects and roof works.

“While there are proposals for a permanent school building at the site, the project is at architectural design process within the Department of Education and a new building is not likely to materialise for several years,” Deputy Farrelly said.

“The fact that ground has not yet been broken means the children remain in a "temporary" facility that is failing daily. The school community cannot wait several more years for a permanent solution while the current ceiling literally leaks over our children’s desks.

“At a time of considerable population growth, when Celbridge has a shortage of school places at both primary and secondary school level, the Department should be aggressively adding classrooms rather than permitting their loss.”