Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming before the committee. Needless to say, the entire scenario is very worrying for parents and school communities. In September 2017, fire safety audits were announced for schools. Have these been carried out for all of the schools built by Western Building Systems? If so, when were they carried out, by whom and what were the results? Were the schools sent the reports relating to these audits? When the announcement in this regard was made in 2017, we were told it would take four months to complete the fire safety audits for 25 schools. How can entire structural audits be done in less than two weeks? Why would it take four months to do a fire safety check on these schools?

In 2017, as Deputy Thomas Byrne stated, the previous Minister indicated that the Department would proceed to appoint a clerk of works for building project commissions. Has this happened? Does the proposal to appoint a clerk of works to school projects mean that neither the Minister nor his predecessor have faith in the building control system to deliver safe quality schools? This is particularly worrying because some of these schools were constructed under the revised 2014 building regulations regime. If there is no faith in the building regulations does this mean other Departments should follow suit? What about the Department of Health? Should a clerk of works be appointed for all major health projects, such as that relating to the new children's hospital? How far-reaching should this be if the Department does not have faith in school building projects?

With regard to the recent structural audits and the 19 schools that have reopened with external fencing in place, what are the risks being addressed by this fencing? Why was it determined that the schools were nonetheless safe? As Deputy Thomas Byrne asked, has any of the parties given an undertaking to the Department that it will pay for the works to be done? What is the estimated cost? I presume Western Building Systems will certainly not be carrying out any of the remedial works. Will the Minister clarify the position?

What contingency plans were put in place prior to the fire audits in order to provide alternative arrangements for schools if something were to be discovered? I presume contingency plans have been put in place for the structural audits and I presume something was in place in the event of a fire safety audit requiring closure. In the instances where the closure of a school is affecting other community facilities, such as in Tyrrelstown, is there a contingency plan or other arrangements for the communities there? They are really suffering. We all saw the news reports last week regarding the basketball team. What is being put in place to help other community events in areas that have little or no free space? For how long will the community centre will be shut?

When the Minister's predecessor came before the committee last September, we asked about the rules for disallowing contractors to tender. He indicated that one of the rules relates to grave professional misconduct. Does this mean that Western Building Systems cannot tender, particularly as what happened in this instance certainly constitutes grave professional misconduct?