James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me time to raise the need for the Minister for Education and Science to provide an update on a new school building for Athlone Community College. This project should be well into the detailed planning stage, as per a letter of 16 November 2006 from the planning and building unit of the Department and another dated 8 November 2006 from the Office of the Minister for Education and Science. However, the project has been shockingly sidetracked into a further status assessment.

In a letter of 16 November, Athlone Community College was invited to enter the architectural design process during 2006, as one of 80 schools with an application for major development work. The letter goes on to state: "Your school is one of those selected to proceed with immediate effect." The Minister of State will agree that this was stated in black and white. The college is in his own backyard. This letter had been preceded on 8 November of the same year by correspondence to a local representative from his predecessor's office stating that Athlone Community College would be authorised to commence the architectural planning with immediate effect. Some 18 months later, far from having advanced to any stage, let alone architectural planning, the development at Athlone Community College has been at a standstill. This has been the case for far too long to be. Is this a mere coincidence? The key to this delay lies in the words I used earlier. This application is for major development work which, in line with the cutback in all areas since the general election, is a negative factor in its advancement.

If I am on the right track I can only condemn such cost-cutting forcefully. That a Government which wasted so much of the hard-earned money of the Celtic tiger years should make good the Exchequer deficit at the cost of the education of our people is not only a shocking indictment of the Government but it is also extremely short-sighted. The future of this country rests firmly on the shoulders of our students. They not only deserve a good education but a built environment designed to support essential learning.

Despite repeated correspondence from the Athlone Community College committee, the Department of Education and Science has failed to give the chief executive officer a substantive response to his queries. That he was told in April 2008, almost two years after the matter appeared resolved, that the project was currently being assessed is akin to trampling on the promises made to this school, its principal, the board of management, the staff, pupils and parents who have collectively worked so hard to secure this much needed development for their school.

In support of my theory as to why this project has been put on the back boiler, the then Minister's reply of 9 April states: "The project is being assessed, as is the case of all large capital projects." Had this matter been dealt with on an urgent need basis as the situation demanded, the costs would probably be considerably less. Promises prior to the 2002 general election virtually saw schools being built on the spot, but post polling day they failed to rise above the ground. By the 2007 general election, the sky was the limit but unfortunately the financial lining had fallen from the heights and the resources were not available to back up the spin.

A new broom sweeps clean. I respectfully suggest that the Minister of State should start working, clear the dust of indecision and honour the commitment to Athlone Community College. I await a positive response given that the college is in his backyard, just a few miles down the road from where he lives on the Athlone-Roscommon border. I plead with him to deliver for us and the people of Longford-Westmeath and Roscommon.

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