Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There was a major fire in the Patrician Academy secondary school in Mallow on 12 July 2016. Nearly three years later, and following many consultations between the Department of Education and Skills, officials, teachers and the school's board of management, there is still no planning permission to build new classrooms. Inspectors from the Department of Education and Skills carried out a whole school evaluation of the school some four months ago. The report produced stated that the request for new classrooms and facilities should be approved. Will the Minister for Education and Skills look into this matter and see what is holding up this process? It is three years since the fire and I am sure the last thing the Department wants is an ongoing series of temporary add-ons to structures. It is better to build a new overall structure now.

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