Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will put it simply to the Minister of State: this ridiculous, wrong-headed decision needs to be overturned, and it needs to be overturned now. To say that students, local families and the staff of the school were shocked at the decision and how it was imposed, without any consultation with the school community, is an absolute understatement. I have had a very close relationship with the fine school since the concept of an Educate Together school first emerged to serve the south Drogheda and east Meath areas and it was always understood that the school, in its temporary manifestation and as a permanent facility, would be situated in east Meath. This is where it is and where it ought to stay. Families chose the school for that very reason. The Department has, by its actions, broken the covenant of trust with the local community. Many families face a journey of over 40 minutes each morning to take their children to school. It is unacceptable to me and to them.

The messages I received from distressed young people over the past few days about the diktat coming from on high are absolutely heartbreaking. Since last March, we have known that the world has become much smaller for younger people. We are aware of how distressed and anxious they are, and this matter is only adding to the distress in my community. We have a duty to mind the young people.

Nobody from the Department has told me why the school cannot expand on the Mill Road site. I wish to be shown the appraisal and technical assessment that were done. I do not believe they exist. Why was St. Oliver's, Drogheda, chosen and not a site in the control of Louth and Meath Education and Training Board in Laytown? How much has the Department spent on the Mill Road facility to date? It seems the Department is content to allow hundreds of thousands of euro of taxpayers' money to go to waste as a site that has already been developed is allowed to go to waste. The Minister of State needs to front up and explain how this wrong-headed decision was hatched, and why. We need full disclosure and transparency now because the decision stinks. It is not a solution for Drogheda ETSS or the community. It might be a solution for the Department of Education but it will not wash with the people I represent.

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