Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy very much. For absolute clarity, I reiterate that when the school was inaugurated in 2018, this was done under the patronage divesting process. There was an agreement with the patron of the Educate Together school and the ETB that it would be a shared campus and the school would be capped at the numbers at the time, in a four-classroom school, until additional accommodation became available. That was the agreement. It was signed up to on behalf of the school by the patron. Somewhere along the line that understanding and clarity have been lost. I reiterate that there was an agreement signed up to by the patron on behalf of the school and that agreement stands until something else becomes available. For whatever reason, we are in the situation we are in now and I recognise that.

I want to move the situation forward. A technical assessment has recently taken place. We will evaluate that technical assessment. I have asked the building officer for Educate Together to engage with the school on the ground. We will continue to engage, but there was a clear, signed agreement by a patron on behalf of the school.

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