Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also have schools in my constituency affected by this and of course parents are asking questions. This is why a specific communications unit has been established in the Department to liaise with teachers and principals and ensure information is available on request to establish dates for when the inspections will take place in the coming days. Three contract teams have been taken on to undertake the inspections and they are already under way in a number of schools. I expect the school in Letterkenny will get notification of the day and time when the inspections are likely to take place.

The Department is arranging for structural assessments to be carried out in all school buildings constructed by Western Building Systems using the particular construction method of steel frame and timber infill. As I said, three teams of contractors have been mobilised to undertake the assessments. These assessments will progress today and continue over the weekend and during the mid-term break. The relevant schools will be informed as soon as a time and date is confirmed for their assessments.

A structural assessment was undertaken yesterday in a Gaelscoil in Firhouse, which was completed earlier this year. While the final analysis has not yet been completed, nothing has arisen from the assessment that would warrant the closure of the school. We can expect that some of the schools are unlikely to have serious safety issues but we need to be sure, just like we need to be sure that if the same contractor built health facilities using similar methods we do an audit and address it comprehensively. I am told that as soon as this afternoon we will have information on it. We know that some schools will have safety issues that will result in them been closed. In some cases, where they are three-storey buildings, it may be possible to keep part of the school open with the necessary engineering supports-----

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