Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is fiche bliain or longer since this project started. Speaking of the patron, the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy gave the site. Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan has been more than helpful and willing. The parish priest, an sagart paróiste, and the parish council met recently and decided to gift the Minister the site, so he cannot hide behind blaming the parish, the patrons or anybody else. The site for the car park has been gifted. The Minister said something very peculiar in a previous reply to me. He said the Department is seeking rights to the site even if a school does not continue at the site in the future. Will he explain that? I do not know what type of thinking there is in the Department now.

I refer to the parent councils, the boards of management and the parents. We have many different nationalities in the school and they are very welcome. Tá fíor fháilte roimh gach éinne go dtí Cathair Dún Iascaigh. There are up to 15 different nationalities, but they are in Dickensian conditions. We cannot wait any longer. This project has been kicked down the road. I have had so many replies to parliamentary questions I could paper my bedroom with them. However, I want to see the school classrooms, not my bedroom. I do not want to hear the Minister say it is in the hands of the patrons, the boards of management and the trustees. It has been already signed off and gifted by the parish community in Cahir and Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan. The Minister should be grateful for that, acknowledge it and forget the delays.

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