Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Last Friday, I visited the completed Loreto college in Wexford town. It is a fantastic facility. We were told that pupils would be occupying the building yesterday. It is one of six schools in the schools public private partnership, PPP, bundle 5. Of these schools, 90% are complete and a couple are in turnkey condition. The principal of Coláiste Ráithín in Bray has said he was due to receive the keys of his school on Monday. These schools were built by InspiredSpaces, a joint venture involving a 50-50 partnership between Carillion and the Dutch Infrastructure Fund. After financing and building the schools from its own resources the joint venture would receive payments over 25 years. Under the terms of the partnership, it is my understanding that it falls now to the Dutch Infrastructure Fund to deliver on that contract. The PPP company appointed Carillion Construction to deliver the buildings and it, in turn, subcontracted to Sammon, which has built the schools.

Last week, I was assured by the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, that the PPP contract was so robust that there would be no interruption in the scheduled opening of these schools. Yesterday, everything changed. Teachers who were physically bringing in teaching equipment to the buildings were denied access. In Wexford, 700 pupils and their teachers, special needs assistants and other support staff were given firm assurances by the Department of Education and Skills and the NDFA that they could move into the school yesterday. Instead, the site was shut down. The school had to seek permission to retrieve teaching equipment that had been moved on site so that it could continue to operate in the old school building.

I understand the complexity of PPP agreements. I was assured that one of their attractions is that the State is guaranteed speedy delivery of buildings and that, because such arrangements are watertight, public moneys would not be at risk. The Wexford and Bray schools are ready for occupation. Whatever outstanding issues have to be resolved so that the legitimate expectation of the Irish people and, more especially, the school communities at those six sites must be resolved immediately. The State is the owner of these schools and will fund the projects over the next 25 years through unitary payments and the PPP system. When will teaching begin in Loreto college Wexford and at each of the other sites involved?

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