Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I shall first respond to Deputy Boyd Barrett. He raised a lot of issues and made a number of allegations. His comments highlight the fact that questions need to be answered. However, people need to be in a position to defend themselves.

The Deputy mentioned whistleblowers. I would be interested in hearing any information or seeing any evidence anyone might have. Accountability was mentioned and it was suggested that schools were being blocked repeatedly by the Department. I have no knowledge of that, but if he has any information around that I am happy to listen to and to look at that.

The issue of Whitehall College of Further Education, a building built in 2006 under the auspices of the OPW, was mentioned. The Deputy is correct to say it was vacated in 2014 due to certain issues that arose. The reason there was no knock-on impact on the school was that it was a completely different type of build. It was a prefabricated building. That building, however, must be included in any investigation or review that comes out of this, even though it was under the umbrella of a different Department. We can learn lessons from it.

Deputy Boyd Barrett has said he will read the transcripts. He said he picked up a lot of evidence from conversations with a couple of workers. The more evidence we have as we carry out this review, the better.

Deputy Thomas Byrne asked whether there was a specific warning about WBS from certain engineers. I do not have any information in that regard. As far as I am aware that was not the case.

The Chairman mentioned the four schools affected in her constituency. I thank her for coming to Tullamore with Deputy Thomas Byrne for the briefing session. Communication goes both ways, and we learned from her visit as well.

Mr. Loftus will tell us who was the party responsible for signing off on the work but as far as I am concerned, the certification of compliance is the responsibility of the contractor on site and the designer on site. There is a role for the Department in certification of completion but it does not take consideration of certification of compliance at the moment. Mr. Loftus might be able to elaborate on that a little more.

The reason we do not have a cost for the remedial work is that time was not available to us even to plan out the works. I mentioned the three-school campus at Ashbourne, which required 3 km of fencing. Scaffolding was still being sourced on Sunday at one of the Cork schools. Remedial work is continuing at the school in Tyrrelstown to bring it up to the satisfaction of the board of management and to address safety issues there. As soon as we get that figure, I will ensure that it is presented publically. Insurance, culpability and accountability were mentioned. I am looking at all possible avenues which might redeem costs for the remedial work. It must also be noted that there is a big job ahead of us now, and we will have to do a comprehensive and complete assessment for the 42 schools in order that we can find the best solution, which will involve a tendering process. That process will cost money and the implementation of that solution will cost money but these school communities have been wronged and I will find out who wronged them. Whatever needs to be fixed I am prepared to fix it; I am making that my responsibility. I have been in the Department of Education and Skills for only a short while but the officials with whom I have worked closely in recent weeks on this issue are very attentive. Everything I needed and everything I have asked of them in terms of communication and the putting together of a team to find alternative accommodation at short notice has been done. The biggest response on this issue came from the community. The community response was enormous; it stood up to the challenge. Education and training boards, ETBs, different schools and different school patron bodies came forward with space and with solutions. The contractors also came forward with ideas. There were many solutions proposed. The 42 schools were able to open last Monday as a result. Tyrrelstown wanted to do its own robust analysis of the logistics to ensure that the bus transfers were okay and that there was adequate supervision when young children were dropped off at school. The response at a community, school and education sectoral level has been second to none. Universities offered space as well. I thank everyone involved in that regard.