Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter, an important one for Ballygarvan, County Cork. The need for a new national school building in Ballygarvan was accepted by the Department of Education and Skills in the late 1990s. Enrolment at the school has expanded in recent years while conditions in the existing buildings are substandard with an over reliance on expensive prefab accommodation. There is also a lack of space for recreational and play areas for the children.

The Department approved a 16-classroom school to be built on a green-field site. The project, however, was bedevilled by the need to secure a suitable site. Although three separate land parcels with three separate owners comprised the preferred site, after enormous work by the local community, its public representatives and the Department the site was secured. The then Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, who also had served the constituency as a Deputy, approved the appointment of a design team and the project progressed through the various planning stages. It was then put out to tender.

The school was to be constructed using a modular build model in a five-month timescale. The preferred bidder for the school building project is McInerney Holdings but it went into interim examinership recently. I hope it will be in a position to fulfil its contract with this building and begin construction as soon as possible.

The community in Ballygarvan wants to know the status of the project and if the preferred bidder will be able to proceed. If this were not to be the case, will the project have to be retendered or can the Department select the next bidder from the original tender process? The local community also wants funding for the project to be confirmed. If construction proceeded, it would be a great boost to this close-knit community which has fund-raised for many years for a new school building. Will the Minister of State give some indication as to when construction on site will begin and a reassurance the project is going ahead?

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