Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, there is cold comfort here for the students of Castleknock community college and their parents, with "cold" being the appropriate word. Many students will continue to be forced to be educated in substandard prefab accommodation. This is not acceptable. The Minister of State's reply outlines what the project entails: ten new classrooms to replace the existing temporary accommodation, which is cold and damp, and a new sports hall with balcony and changing rooms. This underlines how essential and urgent this facility is. Therefore, this is not the end of the story. I will urge the parents and students of Castleknock community college to mobilise themselves to demand that the promises made to them be carried out. There is a moral imperative on the Government to put in the necessary investment for these essential improvements rather than paying off gamblers and speculators. The people of Castleknock and everywhere else have no responsibility for the bad debts they raised. There is a moral imperative because of the educational needs of the school students and their right to be educated in satisfactory accommodation.

I point out to both the Labour Party and Fine Gael the political pitfall that lies ahead for them if they do not carry out the promise that these Ministers, representing those two parties, made to the people. The Labour Party is today reaping a bitter reward for broken promises in its pathetic result in the Meath East by-election. In the case of Dublin West and Castleknock, the people will feel similarly betrayed in regard to this. Fine Gael need not think it would be exempt from the anger of our people.

I advise the people to get mobilised. I will advise them to bring the community together to demand the presence of Ministers, to demand explanations as to why their promises have been broken, and to demand that the promises be reinstated and that this very necessary investment in the classrooms and sports hall at Castleknock community college be expedited and delivered within a very short period of time.

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