Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the matter of Scoil Naomh Feichín in Termonfeckin. This primary school has for years campaigned for a seven-classroom extension that is required to accommodate the growth in population in the Termonfeckin area. Parents, staff and the community have campaigned for years to have the funding for this seven-classroom extension approved. It is ludicrous to think that communities have to mount a campaign to fight both the Minister and the Department for adequate school buildings and classrooms. However, that is a matter for another day's debate.

It is my understanding that late last year a commitment was given by the Department of Education and Skills, under its five-year capital programme, that the building of the seven-classroom extension would go ahead in 2016. Now the school has been told by the Minister that the Department has reneged on this commitment and the project will not go ahead this year. I received a reply the week before last to a parliamentary question I put to the Minister asking him why the funding had not been released despite a commitment that it would be given. I also asked how much money had been allocated for the project. I asked when this money would be available and when we could expect construction to begin. The Minister did not answer even one of my questions. Instead, the response detailed other projects under construction which had absolutely nothing to do with Scoil Naomh Feichín. The response also said that the money is gone. It is outrageous that the Minister could not or would not answer these simple questions. One must ask why the commitment was given if there was no intention whatsoever of following through on it. Why would a Department, Minister or Government do that, particularly in light of the effort and the campaign by the community over the years? Why would it give a clear-cut commitment that funding had been approved and the work would start this year? Was it just another empty election promise? Was it a gimmick, a stunt or simple incompetence? Is the Department so incompetent that it cannot correctly manage its own capital investment budget? Is that the case? What one finds now is that the Department may have discovered that the cupboard was bare and that it has no money after six months of the year. What does it take to hold this Government to a commitment? This came as a devastating blow to the community that has campaigned so hard over the years and worked so hard to get the project this far.

They had understood that this commitment was genuine. They had no reason to question the commitment that the school extension would be built this year. How disappointed and devastated they are.

What remedy is the Minister proposing? Will the Minister give a new date for the commencement of the works? I would rather not get the same watered-down avoidance answer that I got to my parliamentary question. It is a straightforward question. Will the Minister give the commencement date for this project on which the Government gave an absolute commitment only six months ago to the community in Termonfeckin that the funding was secured and the building would start this year?

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