Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will give a number of examples from Donegal in which the decision to refer these projects to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform has caused real anger and genuine concern. The Minister for Education will be aware that a range of schools across Donegal have waited for many years for badly needed improvements and new school projects. I will start with Moville Community College. It is a tremendous school. Students have a tremendous experience there. It has tremendous teachers and a tremendous community that is being failed by totally inadequate school buildings on a totally inadequate school campus. Young people are eating their food in the hallway at lunchtime. There are inadequate classrooms and physical education, PE, facilities. They are totally inadequate when we consider the sheer quality of the teachers and the whole community. They have been waiting for many years. There is devastatingly slow progress. Finally, they were ready to go to tender. Although the Minister has not published the list of schools, I have responses to parliamentary questions relating to Moville Community College that clearly state it has been referred to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and is being considered. However, the Minister has not published a list. There is serious concern about Moville Community College.

The planning permission for Scoil Íosagáin in Buncrana expired because the Government took far too many years to deal with this issue. It has planning permission again and is ready to go. It has had inadequate school buildings for many years and it is again delayed. There are also concerns around the three-school campus in Buncrana, which includes Crana College and the Gaelscoileanna in Buncrana. They have been waiting for many years. There was messing around over a site. It is a question of bureaucracy, total failure, a lost decade and we do not want this project to be caught up again. Parents are asking what is going on with Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí. It has waited for many years. The school thought it was ready to go and there would not be any more delays, but it is facing more delays. Those are a few examples from Donegal. The Minister needs to deal with these issues urgently.

See this speech in context