James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The planning and building unit is shrouded in mystery. I am sure Mr. Loftus will be aware that I have tabled many parliamentary questions and have raised other issues of concern regarding school capacity in County Cork. My experience in dealing with the unit has been appalling. It has been one of the worst experiences that I have had in politics in engaging with any individual unit within the Civil Service.

What epitomised it was the rapid build projects that were presented in 2012. There was a number of them around the country. One of them was in Carrigtwohill. At the time, it was the most expensive school project ever presented and one of the largest school capital developments in the history of the State. It was for a three-school campus. It was presented as a rapid build in 2012, but the sod has still not been turned on that project. It beggars belief that this is allowed to happen. There are other such instances. A major fire broke out in a school in Mallow in 2016. To this day the sod still has not been turned on the reconstruction of the damaged part of the school and additional facilities, which is appalling.

Can Mr. Loftus give an indication of why this happens? It is worth noting that it involves significant public funds. We are talking about hundreds of millions of euro and even billions of euro for capital projects for schools. Why is that allowed to drag on with no sense of accountability? Nobody seems to have been fired for the errors that took place in 2012. If it had happened in the private sector, someone would not last six months. I will give Mr. Loftus a chance to respond.