Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. I join him in acknowledging the patience of the local community and the combined work and effort of the three schools, their management and the parents in terms of working towards an outcome where the three schools will be on the one campus. Unfortunately, the patience and goodwill of the parents in recent years has not been mirrored by Government action on the issue. It is disgraceful that no site has been provided over 11 years after the three schools agreed to amalgamate. The Government has messed around for far too long by not prioritising the issue. The preferred site was identified in 2013, over five years ago. However, once that was done the Government reset the clock and restarted the process. It is only now that I have faith that this can be brought to a conclusion.

I ask the Minister to confirm that the ongoing negotiations relate to the first preferred site and to give an assurance that they are meaningful such that we can have some hope that there will very soon be a conclusion.

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