Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a cost in the documentation. We are using a number of temporary buildings as well as prefabricated buildings. We have decanting and moving costs. We have to set up the proper infrastructure for schools. Some schools may be in a temporary building where the lease runs out and the school may then have to move. There are many challenges in this regard. Ultimately, we want to be able to ensure we move through the system to provide a building. Whether we are talking about Monasterevin or Newbridge, we want to ensure we get it right.

There are numerous processes involved. Sometimes parents, teachers, principals and politicians get frustrated with the process. We all do because it happens in our constituencies, including my constituency. We have to go through stage 2A, stage 2B and design stage. We start asking whether the stages unfolding in a phased out way are leading to delay. I learned in the first 48 hours in this job that we must have those stages and processes to ensure we get it right. We must ensure we have near-zero energy building requirements. We must ensure the design and building are right and we do not have a repeat of the situation that faced me in my first 48 hours in the job.