Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply. I can tell from it that it is quite a complex project. It started and then it had to be amended, and we are now at the redesign stage. The school authorities informed me that they have the design sketched out and they will be able to follow up with that. I appreciate that the Department is dealing with a significant number of projects. Some 1,300 school building projects have been completed, as the Minister said, since 2020. One of those included Gaelscoil Laighean. I recall that we were looking for a location in June 2022 and the school opened in September 2023, so a lot of projects are being expedited very quickly. This is another school I have been talking to recently about issues.

One of the issues that comes up as a theme in my discussions with all schools - because I am trying to visit as many schools in my constituency as I can - is that of waiting for updates from the Department on these complex projects. I ask the Minister to consider working with her officials to come up with some mechanism to increase the level of transparency around project development. Sometimes schools can be waiting months or even years. It would be very helpful for the schools if there were some sort of ongoing communication format.

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