St Patrick’s National School in Celbridge, Co Kildare, will reopen on Monday after the board of management received written confirmation from the Department of Education that the building is safe.
The chair of the board informed parents of the decision during a meeting this evening, attended by more than 200 people.
The school reported that 40 contractors were on site today carrying out significant roof works. These works will continue in the coming days and weeks, including over the midterm and Easter breaks.
The school had announced a temporary closure to parents yesterday due to structural defects and related health and safety concerns. The board made the decision at a Tuesday meeting, concluding that the environment was not safe.
The board’s chair emphasized that its members are volunteers and addressed inaccurate media reports in recent days. She clarified that the Department of Education was not assuming indemnity for the school.
Earlier today, reports indicated the department had offered to take on indemnity after the school raised concerns about its insurance liability.
The school is located on GAA-owned lands leased through the Department of Education. It has operated from temporary buildings since 2007, while a permanent building project is progressing through planning. It is one of 285 schools on the department’s list of large-scale building projects in the planning stages.
Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless, whose constituency includes the school, described the closure as regrettable and unnecessary. He noted intensive engagement by the Department of Education with the school over several months, with contractors on site, agreed works ongoing, and prior work completed in January and February.
He acknowledged each school’s right to make its own judgment on safety but said the department had done all it could. He suggested that viewing the ongoing works might provide the reassurance needed for normal operations to resume.
Tánaiste Simon Harris stated that the meeting between the school and the department aimed to facilitate the quickest possible reopening. He noted the department had received emergency work applications from the school and stressed the need to resolve the issue as a priority.
In response to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly, who highlighted that the department had known about problems since last summer, Harris urged short-, medium-, and long-term investment and planning for the Celbridge community.
A parent with three children at the school, Christine Reale, said parents had been aware for a couple of months that issues were ongoing, based on what children reported—such as ceilings collapsing in corridors, areas being cordoned off, rerouting through other classrooms, and a classroom closed for December with pupils relocated to the PE hall without proper communication.
She mentioned a bad smell in a classroom, efforts to trace it, and a recent report referencing an architectural assessment from March 2025 that raised serious visual safety concerns. She described the situation as having brewed and evolved over recent months, leading to growing worries about children’s safety, with the sudden closure coming as an unexpected development.
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