Mr. Brian Bergin:

Senator Gavan asked about the impact on staff. It has been a rollercoaster of emotions for staff. Initially there was excitement. We showed them plans for their rooms and told them that we had received phone calls to say that something was going to happen soon, but since then there has been delay after delay and disappointment after disappointment. Our staff has grown from 20 when we first featured in a list in 2005 to 44. The school population has similarly grown by just over 100%. Finding space to work is a difficulty in our school. We just do not have the space to put on additional classes. We have converted a storeroom to educate local programme refugees in a local hotel while they are on an orientation programme. Heating prefabricated buildings is a nightmare. They are roasting during summer and freezing during winter. Some days the heating is on and some days it is off depending on whether a student hits a switch. It is a credit to staff that they rise above the facility to deliver quality education for the students. They are wonderful. The students are also wonderful because they accept it. It is sometimes embarrassing when staff take students away to other schools because they cannot believe the facilities those other schools have. I am talking about local schools which were on the same list we were on in 2005. They were built in 2010 or 2011. At best our school will be built in 2021. This all comes down to the site and the lack of care in the identification of that site, and indeed a lack of the required focus from the Department to drive our project forward.

The Chair asked about a dedicated project manager. I feel like the project manager, but I am powerless. Imagine that. I am the person phoning the design team. I am the person phoning site acquisitions. I am the person phoning the major project section. I am the person phoning politicians. I am the person phoning the chair of the board of management and the chair of the parents' council.