Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. He acknowledges in it that we are looking at another school year in 2018 and 2019 where the school will be in temporary accommodation. That will be the sixth year in some children's primary school lives in this school in temporary accommodation. I do not know how long it takes to purchase a site after the price has been agreed but will the Minister assure us that this is not because his budget for land or site acquisition has been exhausted? I welcome that preplanning discussions are going to commence, hopefully in parallel with the conclusion of the acquisition phase. It is possible, however, that until contracts are signed, this site could be lost. Someone else could come in with a higher bid at any stage because no contracts are signed. Where would that leave us if this site was lost? I ask the Minister to take a personal interest in this. Our objective is to get it over the line; that is what it is all about.

Will the Minister ensure that the plans for the next school year, from September 2018 onwards, are agreed well in advance? That would avoid a repeat of previous years when, as Deputy Ó Laoghaire said, school authorities were left to their own devices right up until the last minute. It is not fair on anyone. We need personal interest from the Minister and commitment to complete this both with regard to site acquisition and having proper planning and an agreement in place for temporary accommodation for the next school year which will unfortunately come around quickly.

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