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

I have a few questions, including specific questions about St. Paul's secondary school in Monasterevin. In my role as Chair, I have some questions relating to the overall delivery within the country. I have about seven of those so I propose to go to them first. I have a question about the Department's rapid building programme, the time savings between this process and the ordinary process, and how schools are selected for that. For many, that is an important roadmap for how they can go about delivering a school in a timely fashion.

Has the Department reviewed its project management process? We listened to many shortcomings about that important process. I assume that, by listening to the earlier session, the witnesses have learned about many areas for improvement. Have they assessed any of these? I think I know the answer to this from earlier but I want to put the question because it is important to get an answer. Is a dedicated project manager assigned for each project, empowered to access all relevant information across all stakeholders, who can keep the principal and the school sufficiently informed and ensure timelines are met? That is crucial. I know that Mr. Brian Bergin commented, regarding his stakeholders, about the purpose of parliamentary questions. That touches on what Deputy Heydon said. We all submit questions and get the same answers. If all Oireachtas Members in the constituency were given the same information at the same time as the principal so that we can all work together, it would cut out some of the extra work. If something lands on Mr. Bergin's desk, then he has to do a full round of consultation and get everybody together. It could be completely streamlined.

Has an analysis been undertaken to determine the efficiency of using prefabs? We listened to stark figures earlier about their cost. One of the last parliamentary questions I submitted about St. Paul's secondary school was maybe three weeks ago. The fact that St. Paul's was told to apply for temporary accommodation, for three prefabs, again for this year seems to be such a waste of money. When a new school is built, the prefabs are redundant and much money has gone into them. It has proven difficult for communities to access and use those prefabs. That is an area to address.

On the perceived lack of communication from the Department during individual processes and projects, what systems are in place in the Department to ensure a high level of communication for ongoing projects? That is a similar point to that of project management. Will a witness from the Department, whether Mr. Loftus or a colleague, expand further on potential delays in awaiting planning permission? How can further efficiencies be achieved through ongoing collaboration with local authorities?

It must be 15 years since I was a member of Kildare County Council.

At that stage, Monasterevin was in the municipal district. It was subsequently made part of a different district. However, 15 years ago, I, along with other councillors and a number of local authority officials, sat down with the order in Moore Abbey to look at the potential sites that were there. That was 2003 and the school got the go-ahead in 2005. It seems that an inordinate amount of time has passed but I accept that problems arose in respect of planning permission. Thankfully, those problems have been dealt with but only since last summer.

On the question of communications, how does the Department ensure consistency and effective knowledge transfer between its various sections regarding ongoing building projects? There are eight sections within the Department's planning and building unit and there is a relatively large turnover of personnel. One can deal with somebody who has a lot of corporate knowledge but he or she is then moved, retires or goes to another area. Straight away, one must start building relationships again. That represents a huge amount of time invested by so many different people.

The final general question I want to ask concerns the general information system, GIS, and about how effective it is, working in tandem with the local authority's projections, to predict where additional accommodation will be needed. I know Deputy Thomas Byrne inquired about this. Has there been any instance where accommodation needs have been identified incorrectly? Does the system enable increased lead-in times for planning and delivery? Do the schools still have to alert the Department to accommodation needs or are the relevant schools identified by the GIS? Last Friday morning, the list of schools was mentioned. I know we have had several conversations on this with Mr. Power in particular over the past two years. I absolutely accept that the published list will not impact in any way on St. Paul's' and the delivery of the project there. However, I cannot for the life of me understand how, with the exception of St. Paul's, south Kildare, having been on it in 2015, has been left off the list. Kildare has one of the fastest-growing populations in the country. It is certainly going to accommodate a lot of the building needed to support families in their quest for homes. Among the age groups we are talking about, the rate of population growth in the area comprising Kildare town, Newbridge and Kilcullen has been 146% of that relating to the State. Among children between ages five and 12, the growth rate has been of the order of 206%. We have identified at least 400 students who will not have secondary school accommodation in seven years' time. Even at this point, people are scrambling try to get places for their children for September of this year. I have concerns about the GIS.

To go to back to St. Paul's and leaving aside for a moment the historical reasons why we are in the position in which we find ourselves, we are led to believe that the current situation arose as a result of the signing of the lease and the accompanying legal complexities. This site was looked at 15 years ago. It was agreed in 2005 that St. Paul's and Monasterevin would have a new school. We have overcome all of the difficulties thrown up by the planning process but a lease has still not been signed. I want a straight answer. Has the lease been signed? If not, when do the witnesses expect it to be signed? Why is there a hold-up? If we are at the end game regarding the signing of this lease, why could the start date not have been earlier than the fourth quarter of last year?

There is plenty I can say about other schools, particularly the Curragh girls national school and the Curragh boys national school. I know we will have other conversations about those. However, I want to put on the record that the primary school buildings in the Curragh are absolutely not fit for purpose. They would fail every health and safety test. If any type of commercial property was in this condition, it would be closed down immediately. There are also small rural schools, such as Ballyshannon national school, which badly need extensions.

My final point concerns autism spectrum disorder, ASD, units. We are very far behind in this regard. In Kildare, there are 64 ASD units in primary schools and only 18 in secondary schools. We have a long way to go in terms of the provision of this service. The delays are causing a lot of problems for those children who are now at the point of leaving mainstream primary school. Some of them are having to return to special schools. We are putting them under pressure too. I am talking in particular about Scoil na Naomh Uilig in Newbridge and St. Anne's school in the Curragh. This is a huge problem and it is going to get worse. We are looking at a juggernaut coming down the tracks. I thank the witnesses for listening to all of our concerns.