Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the very positive response from the Minister. I want to clarify the nature of the information that is being asked for. An email that was sent by the principal of the school in response to my last parliamentary question on this matter makes it clear that as far as the school understands, the information sought by the Department - a letter from South Dublin County Council with respect to the use of a particular piece of land - was submitted in March 2016 and again in June 2017.

Future enrolment numbers have also been mentioned. As the Minister will be aware, because this is not a mainstream school, the sources of enrolment are more complex. According to the information that has been provided to the Department, it will be built as a 12-teacher school, in line with the current shape and size of the school.

There have been conversations between the Department and the relevant personnel in the CRC regarding the co-location of the CRC building. The CRC authorities have confirmed that they are more than happy to work with the Department and to allow it to be the lead design team in producing this development.

I suggest that the quickest way to get this resolved is to do two things. First, officials from the Department need to have an on-site meeting with representatives of South Dublin County Council and CRC as a matter of urgency to resolve any outstanding issues. Second, I recommend that a joint design team, comprising officials from the Department and the CRC, should be put in place to work through the rest of the issues and avoid emails getting lost in transmission between different bodies. This is happening in housing and there is no reason it cannot happen in the Department of Education and Skills. If the Minister were to undertake to do those two things - arrange an on-site meeting and establish a design team involving the Department and the CRC - this could be expedited very quickly, something which would meet with universal approval.

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