Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his detailed response. I am heartened that the project is more than 80% complete and that activity on site has increased. However, we need to keep pressure on day and night and move mountains to ensure that the project is delivered by October. I am thinking of the children with special needs who will be upset at being moved to Kinnegad, their parents and all those affected. It is not good enough that they are upset because when the Department commits to a school being ready and provides funding in its capital budget to deliver the school, that commitment should be met. Through the history of this project, I have dealt with a series of boards of management. The only person who has been consistently involved from the start in the push to relocate the school is its principal, Mr. Michael Molloy. I appeal to the Minister to expedite the delivery of the school.

The equipment in the school has depreciated over a number of years. I appeal to the Department to look favourably on providing upgraded equipment for the new school. That is the least we can do in light of the circumstances everyone involved has faced in the course of the project.

We must bear in mind that legislative change in respect of tender law in this country is required in order to bring in a traffic light system for new projects such that past performance is taken into account before a contract may be awarded. We need to protect ourselves. For me, there is nothing worse than walking into a room in front of 40 new parents and them asking what I can do about this. The worst part is that procurement law cannot be overridden in terms of the contract that was signed with the contractor. We must accept that. However, we need to pursue the contractor to deliver the project and ensure the October deadline is met. That must be cast in stone.

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