Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss this issue. The ability of the collapse of a private company in another jurisdiction two weeks ago to have such an impact on the completion of school buildings in Ireland is, unfortunately, the direct result of public private partnerships. Our schools or other public buildings cannot be at the mercy of public private partnerships going wrong. The schools in question, which Deputy Thomas Byrne named, include two in my constituency, Tyndall college in Carlow and the Carlow Institute of Further Education, need clarification from the Department. The email that was sent to schools from the Department was vague, with no detail, and did nothing to ease any concerns parents, principals, teachers and most important, students, have.

The schools in question are badly in need of new buildings, with some waiting years, decades even, in very poor conditions and they need assurances that they can relocate to their new buildings as soon as was promised. Initial reports indicated that work has been postponed indefinitely on at least two sites and that there are doubts over the status of others. The fact is that there are no longer contractors working at the site in Carlow since last week and all work has halted on that development which was 90% complete and is to cater for 3,000 students.

The situation has an impact on the workers who have been left without wages and without certainty. When the news initially broke reassurances were given that there would be no impact on the building work at the schools and last week the NDFA released a statement placing responsibility on shareholders and funders to ensure the buildings are completed. How long will that take and have the discussions even started? At what stage are the talks now? I am very conscious of time. Students need to know where they stand. We cannot ask them to study for exams in inadequate buildings where they do not even have proper facilities. I ask the Minister to please clarify the situation today.

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