Mr. Brian Bergin:

I thank the esteemed members of the Joint Committee on Education and Skills for the invitation to come before them to make this opening statement. My name is Brian Bergin. I have been a teacher in St. Paul's secondary school since 2003. I was appointed acting deputy principal in 2006 and principal in 2010. I have been very fortunate in my position in that I have enjoyed the unwavering support of wonderful students, staff, community, board and parents, for which I am most grateful.

In 2005, 13 years ago, our school was named on a public private partnership, PPP, bundle of schools. In February 2018, the Department informed us that we were profiled for construction to commence in the third quarter of 2019. This would finally see the school completed in March 2021. However, how can we reasonably expect this latest completion date to materialise after the events of the past 13 years, a period filled with excitement, expectation, hope, frustration and, latterly, anger and despair? So many of the delays regarding our project have related to the identification and acquisition of a suitable site and the provision of services thereto.

I have a number of questions I would like addressed. What role did the Department play in the selection of the site? Did it carry out a feasibility study into the provision of services to the preferred site? Why do unresolved legal issues remain in respect of the procurement of the preferred site? Why did the size of the preferred site decrease by almost 50% from the original site identified despite the school being built for more students? The Department is the client in this project, and we are very appreciative of that. I understand that different sections of the building unit are responsible for different aspects of the each project. Again, however, I have a few questions about this. Who in the Department takes lead responsibility in such a project? Who is responsible for ensuring timelines are met and co-ordinated between the various sections of the Department, with the design team, the local authority, the statutory bodies and, most importantly, the school? Is there a more time-efficient and financially accountable way of making developmental decisions at critical stages with critical stakeholders? As the financing of the project comes from central government, through taxpayers' contributions, why does it appear to be a game of which government agency will pay at each juncture?

Throughout this journey, I have worked with wonderful professionals who have done sterling work to progress the project to this point. Having submitted the stage 2B report last week, we are now at a point at which the Department can expedite our project.

They can do this by ensuring they give it the utmost attention, the benefit of their expertise, and the financial resources to progress to tender in a timely and efficient manner.