Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I concur with what Deputy Flanagan has said. The school is in dire need of a new building. No words of mine can overstate this. I have visited the school several times, as have several Ministers. The children of the school need support at a high level. It is a special needs school and almost 40 children attend, with the number increasing each year. The conditions in the school are totally intolerable. There are prefabs and only one solid classroom. It is the worst case I know of. Large equipment is stored all over the place and the staff and pupils have endured a lot. I have raised this with successive Ministers for Education, including Mr. Ruairí Quinn, Deputy Bruton, Deputy McHugh and the current Minister, Deputy Foley, but here we are again.

Solemn promises were made by current Ministers to the effect that money would be available for the project and that work would proceed. On 9 May 2018 the previous Minister, Deputy McHugh, told me in the Chamber that the project was in the programme for 2018 and that money was not a constraint, meaning it was not a question of the project being delayed for financial reasons. The Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is in the Department of Finance. Both Opposition and Government Deputies want results on this for Laois–Offaly. The go-ahead has to be given. Four days before the works were due to go to the next stage, the school was informed they were put on hold and pushed to one side. Only the previous Friday, the architectural team was given the go-ahead to move ahead with another part. Without any warning, the project was pushed to one side. This is not good enough, and we need to get this back on track. The needs to be met are the highest I know of. Many new schools have been built in the constituency, all of which I welcome regardless of who builds them or the Government in power, but this is the worst case I have seen. I cannot believe what I have seen in the school over the years. I ask the Minister of State to make a special effort in the Department of Finance to make sure the project is put back on track as soon as possible.

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