Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for being present to deal with this important issue of the school building project for Scoil Bhríde in Portlaoise. As the Minister will be aware, Portlaoise is the fastest growing town in Ireland and Laois is the fastest growing county with a 20% increase based on the recent census figures. Portlaoise also has the highest proportion of pre-school age children for any for any region in the country. While there has been a big increase in population in recent years, it is clear that is continuing and will require additional educational facilities in coming years.

The Minister will be aware that Scoil Bhríde, Knockmay, is the largest primary school in County Laois, with 744 pupils being educated in inadequate accommodation. The school is at stage 2(b) of the Department's process. The parish donated a site free of charge and planning permission has been granted, putting the school in a very strong position. It is seeking to move on to the pre-qualification process as part of the tendering process. It is at that stage and ready to move. The new school site is fully available. The school is paying €200,000 per annum on rent for prefabs. It is also a DEIS school with only eight permanent classrooms as it was built a number of years ago. Some of its prefabs are up to 25 years old.

My request is modest but important for the school. Given that planning permission has been granted and that the school is at stage 2(b) of the Department's process, I am asking that it be allowed enter the pre-qualification tendering process, which will take a number of months - the tendering will also take a few months - with a view to construction commencing in 2013. The Department's latest schedule issued earlier this year indicated that the school would move to construction in 2014 or 2015. A delay to 2015 would be of great concern to the parents concerned.

In that context the four Oireachtas Members from County Laois met the board of management, the teachers and the parents separately. I met them along with the Minister's party colleague recently. I wrote to the Minister on 9 May requesting a meeting with the four Oireachtas Members on the matter. We were very disappointed to receive a letter from the Minister on 14 May stating he was not in a position to meet us. I have never encountered a Minister refusing to meet four Oireachtas colleagues. We did not ask him to visit the school or to meet a delegation from the school for an hour. We understand the time pressure he is under and suggested having a short meeting to put the case. In view of that refusal I have had to deal with the matter by way of Topical Issue.

The children deserve better facilities and there have been considerable second level developments in Portlaoise in recent years. There is a plan for new complexes for five new primary schools in the eastern end of Portlaoise. Portlaoise should have six primary schools fully completed within five or six years but Scoil Bhríde will be the only one on the western half of the town. While that might not mean anything to Members of this House, it is significant in terms of the geography and demographics. While all the others are moving apace - they could move faster, but we accept resources are limited - this is the only school that in this year's announcement was moved into a slow lane.

It had planning approval and was ready to move on to the pre-tender stage. I still believe the Minister could grant agreement to allow it move on to that stage. It will take several months and the Department will not incur capital costs in this calendar year. If that process was allowed to commence and given that preparing the final tendering documents would not involve on-site work, the school should be allowed to commence construction in 2013 rather than a year or two later. It has created great anxiety for those involved in the school. They have taken a long time to get to this stage and now see the process slowed down. We welcome the other development in the town, to which I will refer in my supplementary contribution. It will not cost a considerable amount in the overall scheme of things - it is just moving it forward somewhat faster than the Department had planned.

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