Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday afternoon at the Joint Committee on Education and Skills, the Minister agreed that he would have an inquiry and I suggested to him that such an inquiry would need to have somebody very experienced and competent in building and technical issues, for example, a structural engineer and-or architect. Furthermore, a reputable senior counsel would also be needed because, as the Minister stated, a great number of legal issues arise as to where ultimately the legal liability will fall.

When does the Minister propose to bring his request for a proper full inquiry into this matter, with datelines setting out when all of these building projects commenced and when the design and build process commenced? I understand the Department moved to design and build some time around 2005 and this approach had been written up by 2008. We need to have this information. The schools which were mentioned as having the biggest problems - one in Whitehall was mentioned yesterday and the Minister referred to the Ardgillan school just now - all go back, apparently, to the period between 2005 and 2009. It is important that we understand the timeline for these buildings because considerable effort was put into changing the regulations in 2013-14.

From my experience as a Minister, I believe this will cost the Department between €50 million and €120 million. The other day, I saw at least 250 cars parked in the car park of the community centre in Tyrellstown where Tyrellstown Educate Together school and St. Luke's national school are located. Other cars were parked on verges of the road as far as the shops. Some Members who are expert in the building trade will be aware that the workers in question could earn €200 a day and some of the more qualified among them could earn €600 over a weekend. If we tot up the figures, they amount to a lot of money. It is imperative that the Minister asks for a Supplementary Estimate to fund this to ensure funding is not robbed from the existing school programme. Schools in Dublin West and elsewhere in the country are waiting on buildings to be provided. We have seen this caper in the Department of Health. I put it to the Minister - who I know is trying very hard - that we do not want to go down that road with his Department.

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