Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 26 September 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Breaches of Fire Safety Standards: Discussion

4:00 pm

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Apologies. I have a few questions, some of which may already have been asked earlier. As the Minister knows, one of the schools identified - Educate Together in Mullingar - happens to be in my constituency. Having spoken to the principal, I want to acknowledge that both the principal and the board of management are happy that remediation works are now being carried out. My concern is over how this was allowed to happen and how, despite the carrying out of initial inspections and the fact that the board of management sought a copy of the report on a number of occasions, the school had to wait on the submission of a freedom of information request to learn of the actual defects in the school. How can we have confidence that all of our schools across the country are up to adequate standards and regulations?

The principal of the Educate Together school has said the principals of other schools throughout the country have been ringing her to ask how she had made sure the defects in her school were being addressed because they could not have them addressed in their schools, which is quite worrying. Is the Minister satisfied that adequate resources have been put in place to deal with defects found by schools that have gone to the bother of identifying weaknesses or defects, be they electrical, plumbing or a leak in the roof?

While the speed of delivery of the rapid school build programmes is welcome, another principal to whom I spoke had identified issues in the completion of snag lists. In some instances they are not completed to the best standards unless the chairperson of the board of management is thorough and follows through to the nth degree. In some instances schools have been passed, even though on issues such as disabled access and toilets they do not come up to scratch. Who from the Department goes out to make sure new buildings meet the requirements of the health and safety and disabled access building regulations?

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