John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for their attendance. I am essentially going to be repeating some of the comments that my colleagues have made but will be inserting the names of different schools. I would be very surprised if the officials did not come here with some kind of briefing on Gaelscoil Chnoc Liamhna given that it has been highlighted on the airwaves in the past week, particularly by parents. The Department was alive to those interventions by parents because it responded on the airwaves directly to one of the requests that was made. I will return to that presently.

I wish to reinforce the points made earlier with regard to communications. I am a public representative, as are my colleagues here, and it is worth revisiting what that means. I am elected, along with four colleagues in Dublin South West, to represent the people of that area. One assumes that when one submits a question or series of questions on a project and does so regularly in the Dáil Chamber by way of parliamentary question, or topical issue - which brings it very much to the notice of the Minister and his or her officials - or during the Order of Business, that the Department should then be aware and alive to the fact that the project in question is giving rise to a lot of concern. As a public representative, I was pretty surprised that the Department confirmed on the airwaves the position with regard to the site acquisition issue with South Dublin County Council but did not provide me with any formal notification on same. That is pretty appalling communication.

School principals are busy enough as it is without having to deal with bad conditions. I am not going to go into the details regarding the conditions at Gaelscoil Chnoc Liamhna because the officials will already be familiar with the case. School principals are very busy people anyway but many have to spend a great deal of time fruitlessly chasing departmental officials in an effort to find answers. Today I had to submit a freedom of information request, which really is the last resort for a public representative, to try to find out as much information as possible about the communications between the Department and the local authority because it is the local authority that owns the site.

My specific questions for the officials relate to the status of the school building programme on which Gaelscoil Chnoc Liamhna appears and the announcement made by the Minister last week with regard to 40 schools. Where does the school stand vis-à-visthe six year school building programme? There are questions allied to that which Deputy Thomas Byrne has raised regarding the funding implications arising from the addition of 40 projects to the programme. I would like to know before we leave here this evening the status of the school building programme 2015 to 2021 and the projects included in it to which the Department committed. Does that programme still stand? I ask because it has been deleted from the Department's website. Is that related to the refurbishment and updating of the website? The programme is not accessible on the Department's website which is a real problem and a serious communication issue.

I understand to some degree the issue around commercial sensitivity but I would also like a definition of same. The commercial sensitivity argument is thrown out there a lot. What does that constitute from the Department's perspective, particularly when it is dealing with a local authority? The argument does not apply in this particular case but it does apply in others.

Included among the 40 projects announced last week is a post-primary school project in City West. Has a site been acquired for that? I do not believe one has been acquired as yet. In that context, how can the Department announce a project when negotiations regarding site selection and purchase have not even begun? Site selection and purchase are prerequisites before a sod can be turned.

Is Gaelscoil Chnoc Liamhna to proceed? Is that building project going to proceed and if so, when? I also seek specific answers regarding communications. In mid January 2018 an engineer's report was to be submitted to the building and planning section of the Department but that has not happened. In February the process of selecting a design team was to begin but that has not happened. On 9 March, according to the building and planning section, the report would be submitted but that has not happened. On 9 March a schedule of accommodation arrived at the school which was a generic template for a 16 room primary school and not specific to Gaelscoil Chnoc Liamhna. Currently there is no date for the engineer's report to be submitted.

The timeline provided by the Department's building and planning section on 29 November 2017 is no longer valid. In spite of multiple calls and communications from the school and public representatives about the timelines committed to by the Department when it met with the school, timelines which it failed to meet, which is one issue, it failed to explain why it has missed all those timelines and to reply in writing or orally, which leaves a bad taste in the mouths of parents and the principal, and of the board of management.

What is the political input into school project selection? When the officials present a suite of school projects and it goes up to the Minister's desk, is that the same suite of school projects that leaves the Minister's office for publication thereafter?