Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I will certainly undertake to pass on the concerns of both Deputies to the Minister, Deputy Quinn, and in turn I assume they will be passed on to the officials in the Department's building unit. The first point is that one of the reasons this list was published was to provide complete transparency in the school building programme, something we have not had in the past. In the past, as Deputy Boyd Barrett noted, boards of management were obliged constantly to liaise and, indeed, pressurise the building unit in Tullamore to deliver on particular projects. Boards of management and parents were not aware at any point where they stood in terms of having their school developed. What the Minister, Deputy Quinn, sought to do with the publication of this list was to bring complete clarity to that situation, which is very much welcomed by the vast majority of boards of management across the country, particularly those fortunate enough to be on the list.

Second, some 275 projects are included in the list and it physically is not possible to get all of them off the ground within the first couple of years. Third, the decision for the phasing of these was built around very sound data from the CSO and the Department of Social Protection in regard to children's allowance records in each area. One can only conclude that the officials in the building unit made the decision to phase in Newpark in Blackrock towards the end of the five-year programme based on the demographic challenges that are arising within its catchment area.

I would argue the school is most fortunate to be on the list because, since that list was published, I and I am sure the Deputies have had numerous communications from other schools that were not fortunate enough to be on the list. Other schools are waiting far longer than 17 years. I visited one school recently where the first, second and third years are accommodated in a building that was built in the late 19th century, is completely unsuitable to the needs of a modern school and is inherently dangerous. Those schools were also on the cusp of going to development and some already had their contractors appointed. Now, they have been told they are being put on pause indefinitely until such time as this particularly urgent list is delivered upon.

Newpark is on the list. I will undertake to pass on to the Minister the Deputies' concerns about perhaps moving it up to an earlier date for construction. However, I wish to stress that the school is most fortunate to be in the position of being on the list and that the decision to move the development out towards of the end of the programme is based on sound census and demographic data from the area which the school serves.

See this speech in context