Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Clarity is needed around this given the fact that, notwithstanding the provision by the Minister of State, Deputy John Halligan, of a similar level of certainty two months ago, we are raising the issue on the floor of the Dáil again today. While there is a commitment on the part of the developer to provide the site to the school until summer 2020, what will happen if there is further slippage and delay in the tendering process, design works or any of the other aspects of the development of the permanent school? Such delays have occurred in respect of other school development sites. Can the Minister of State say with absolute certainty that there will be no further dislocation for children, teachers, parents and the broader school community? They have already had to deal with the developer at Rathborne-Royal Canal leaving a lot of vacant sites in the area in an unsightly state.

The least that can occur is that the Department secures the future site trajectory until the permanent school opens. That is what the parents want and that is what the school community wants. We need that commitment from the Minister of State and from the forward planning section because the forward planning section of the Department appears to be on an ongoing cliff edge where it has let this school down.

It is time that we provided certainty. Children should not have to be uncertain about their accommodation on a weekly and monthly basis and that has been the story of this school for the past six months because of the failure of the Department to communicate with and forward plan for this school. The least they can be given from the Minister of State, the Department and the Government is that this will not happen any more and that we will not have to continually raise this issue to have it resolved.

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