Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. Before even looking at matters of education and ethos, when a school takes children in as young as four their safety and security in their surroundings has to be absolutely paramount. What we have learned since 1 September is incredibly concerning. I share my colleagues' concerns, particularly with regard to the delay. We know that it was reported in 2015 that one of the schools in question, a school in Greystones built in 2008, had serious fire safety concerns. I would like to know what the Department did when this came to its attention in 2015. We know that the reports on these schools were finalised in 2016 so it seems strange that they were not published until September of this year. The summer holiday period would seem to have been a good time during which to try to do some of the remediation work needed, as opposed to not letting the schools know until 1 September, the very day the report was published. It would surely have been more beneficial for the schools to have received these reports beforehand. Educate Together, which manages some of these schools, has requested the reports on its schools on several occasions, as Deputy Boyd Barrett has indicated. Why was was it refused, why was it denied these reports and why the delay?

I appreciate that the Minister has said that he will include the schools built under the rapid-build programme in the comprehensive set of measures he has put in place. It was claimed at the time that all buildings constructed and handed over to the Department complied with the fire safety regulations. We know, however, that the fire safety regulations have changed since 2008. If this is the case, was it not the responsibility of the Department to ensure that remediation work was carried out in the school buildings so that they complied with the new regulations? While I accept that protocols will be put in place, we are very concerned about the delays to date and about how this could have been allowed despite all of the different levels of sign-off required.

Deputy Troy has come in so I will allow him to comment before handing back to the Minister.