Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and the Ceann Comhairle's office for allowing me to raise the issue. I have raised it before as a Topical Issue matter and in a huge number of parliamentary questions over a long period.

The amalgamation of the schools in Kanturk is a long-running issue and has met huge obstacles and difficulties. It is an amalgamation of two fantastic schools - the boys' school and the girls' school in Kanturk. It was first mooted a long time ago when issues such as the procurement of the site, access to the site and planning permissions were considered. There have been many obstacles. I want an outline from the Minister and the Department of Education and Skills on the roadmap as we go forward for the jigsaw involving the local authority, land acquisition, trying to secure planning and the acquisition of the property. At one stage the Department appealed the decision. It was the first time an applicant appealed a decision to the board as a result of issues surrounding it. There is huge frustration with the project within the school community in Kanturk and the wider community there. Many people I meet have given up completely on expecting it to progress. While a flag has been raised that the new school has been sanctioned, the official sanction was given in 2010 or 2011 and it had been sanctioned even before that. It has gone through a very protracted process.

Will the Minister put the exact process before the Dáil? Where do we go from here? How far away are we from tender documents going out? How far away are we from actually making sure the project will start and go to construction? When does the Department envisage the school will be open for students? Many dates have been given over recent years, which is hugely frustrating for the boards of management and the communities involved. Of all the projects, there have been more representations made by me and other public representatives down through the years to try to get this up and running.

Now is the time. I understand the money was sanctioned a long time ago but where do we go from here? When do the Department and Minister believe the project will commence? There was no mention of it in any of the capital plan announcements. There is a bit of scepticism about how we go forward. What is the position? When will it go to tender? When do the Minister and his Department believe construction will start? When does the Minister believe the school will be completed for pupils, staff and the entire community of Kanturk to move into the long-awaited new school? We will start with those questions and I may have some supplementary questions for the Minister.

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