Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will address the matter of the school again. I want to emphasise that this seems to be a policy issue and that these matters always seem to come up to the wire. This school is split across Garyduff Sports Centre and Douglas Hall. The educate together secondary school is in Nagle. There are other schools in Carrigaline as well. Both of those schools go right up to the wire when trying to source things. There is still great uncertainty, even as the year progresses, as to what the situation will be next year. There is an admission that we are looking at temporary accommodation for 2018 to 2019 which is disappointing and concerning. It is not clear to me that either of the existing sites are capable of supporting any more prefabs or temporary accommodation. The question is whether we are looking at a third site or relocating some of the existing school to another site. Much of that is unclear and I am disappointed to know that we are in that situation. I understand that indications have been that it is still at the conveyancing stage but that it could take until the end of the year. If that is the case, it is very likely that another school year will be spent in temporary accommodation. I urge the Minister to examine the issue of temporary accommodation and how that is handled in the Department as a general rule on a national level. I ask the Minister to ensure that no effort is spared to ensure that this site for a rapidly growing school is secured by the Department to ensure that there can be a permanent home for what can be a very successful and valuable school for the locality.

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