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

The Minister and I have been on the opposite side of debates in the past, but this is important. The amalgamation of the schools in Kanturk, County Cork is a long running issue. There have been many promises, commitments and press releases and when the people of the community hear of another statement on the school development, they throw their eyes up to Heaven and say they have heard it all before. We raised this issue back in March to establish what the process was. It started with the enabling works which are ongoing on the site in Kanturk.

Where is the amalgamated school? I understand there was a commitment and that funding has been locked down for the last eight or nine years for the project. There have been many false dawns and many people involved in the project are frustrated, but much work has been done on the ground to try to bring it together in relation to access and planning permission, in the seeking of which the Department had to take the project back to An Bord Pleanála. We now have planning permission and access has been achieved through the work done locally. What we need is a definite timeframe for the school. We want to know where the tender process is at. When is it envisaged that construction will start? One of the most fundamental questions I want to have answered is what is the completion date for the project and when is the school likely to open for students and teachers alike? We need a clear timeframe and to be able to say the project is going ahead and that there is a commitment to it. I have put more questions about this issue which I have raised in Topical Issues debates than on any other in the number of years I have been lucky enough to be in this House. As I said, we need a clear timeframe for the tender process. Where is it at and when will it be completed? When will construction commence and what is the timeframe for it?

I ask the Minister to ensure the Department and the officials involved in it will adhere to whatever timeframe is set or commitments are given because we do not want to go back to the school community or the community of Kanturk and Duhallow only for them to say they have heard it all before because questions keep coming up about what progress has been made and when the school will open because flowery commitments have been made to generations of people during the years since the project started and they have all come to nought. Will the Minister outline what he and his Department are doing?

I ask the Leas-Cheann Comhairle to let me use the remaining time later.

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