Kildare primary school facing 'unsustainable leadership crisis'

A Kildare primary school with over 1,000 pupils across three campuses is facing an “unsustainable leadership crisis”, a local Fianna Fáil senator has warned.

Senator Fiona O'Loughlin raised the issue of St Brigid's Primary School in Kildare Town with Minister of State Michael Moynihan TD in the Seanad this week.

Senator O'Loughlin said: “I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, for being here, although this matter relates to mainstream education. I raised this before on the Order of Business and I have written to the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Naughton. It relates to an unsustainable leadership crisis in St. Brigid's Primary School in Kildare town.

“It is a very fine school with great staff. Donal Fleming was the previous principal. He showed incredible visionary leadership, leading one school across three different campuses. That came about through amalgamation a number of years ago. This exceptional situation, where we have more than 1,000 pupils across three different campuses, means children and teachers have to move between different campuses in Kildare town.

“We have a new principal, John Goff, who is another excellent principal. He has taken on the mantle. Mr. Goff and the board of management have written to the Minister three times since June, following initial correspondence dating back to May 2025.”

Despite writing to the Minister on three occasions, Senator O'Loughlin said, no adequate response was forthcoming.

The Senator explained that St Brigid's Primary School is a DEIS-status school with an enrolment of 1,031 pupils.

The size of the school was due to considerable growth and development in Kildare Town over the past number of years, she said.

Managing a DEIS education community of this size across multiple sites presented a lot of unprecedented administrative, governance, child protection and health and safety challenges, Senator O'Loughlin pointed out.

It also placed the voluntary board of management at “severe personal and statutory risk” as it attempts to safely oversee daily operations.

The Senator said: “There is no other primary school in the country with over 1,000 pupils. The school in nearby Kilcullen is very close to that figure but at least it is on one campus. A school with 550 pupils receives the exact same administrative deputy allocation as St. Brigid's, which is nearly double the size and is split across three campuses. By contrast, a secondary school of an equal size would automatically be allocated three deputy principals.

“Telling this leadership team to wait for the results of a three-year action research project pilot completely ignores the acute daily operational pressures they face right now. I am requesting that the Minister implement an immediate exceptional interim management.”

Responding, Deputy Moynihan said: “I will take back the points the Senator made. There are a number of key points. She made a comparison between the situation in St. Brigid's Primary School and a post-primary school of similar numbers. She also made points about working on different campuses. I will take those points back.

“It would be wrong of me to give the impression that I can say yea or nay today in relation to St. Brigid's Primary School. I take on board the points the Senator has made. We have put in extra funding but have to look at how best that can be distributed right across the education system. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Department will be making those decisions in due course.”

Deputy Moynihan told Senator O'Loughlin that both he and the Minister were “very conscious of the challenges being faced in large primary schools across the country.

He committed to taking the senator's points back to the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Department for their consideration.

“The points the Senator made are certainly not lost on us”, he concluded.