Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree that the Minister of State, unfortunately, does not seem to have all the facts. Deputy O'Dowd is correct. A letter was forwarded by the owner of the site to the school this afternoon confirming that there are no issues with road access, planning or the scale of the site. Relatively recently, the Department confirmed there were no issues regarding the expansion of the school to meet the needs it has in the short to medium-term.

On the St. Oliver's site, one thing we are forgetting is that in 2013 the Department of Education under Ruairi Quinn agreed with me that the Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, ETB, headquarters should be located on the grounds of St. Oliver's Community College. In the meantime, the Department of Education and ETB have been dragging their heels, obfuscating on this issue and, as Deputy O'Dowd said, have spent several hundred thousands of euro in planning fees and so on to try to get this initiative up and running but it has been delayed time and again. That should be the priority for the St. Oliver's site, rather than moving this school to a site where there is no demand, an already constrained site that is under severe pressure. I have a simple message for the Minister of State: get to work developing an imaginative proposal with Educate Together and the owner of the site to ensure the school can stay where it is supposed to be in the east Meath area and identify the permanent site now to fast-track the building of a new permanent facility to serve our area.

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