Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her helpful reply. My immediate response is that the location, site and infrastructure will be determined in the first instance by the local authority and its road traffic management proposals. A previous proposal was unveiled a year or so ago and it was not acceptable because it did not deal with the traffic problems at all. It is important to remember the location of the site for the schools in question will be determined to some extent by the location of the roads, hence the importance of that element.

The Ceann Comhairle will know the importance of St. Raphael's Special School in Celbridge to special needs children over many years, catering for north Kildare, west Dublin and further afield. Tremendous work has been done in very difficult circumstances in a building that was constructed in the 1960s. It is therefore of vital importance that the project be moved ahead to provide that facility to the school and the other schools that require a permanent location in the shortest possible time. We should minimise delays because of the urgency and the special needs element.

I ask the Minister of State, in the first instance, to make contact with the local authority to iron out any problems that may exist. We will also have to help the local authority come to a conclusion on how fast it will be able to deliver the goods in terms of alternative traffic routes.

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