Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I totally understand there can be delays to various projects. In nearly all of these cases, if it has got to stage 2b, the land is there and the school is ready to go. Stage 2b seems to be some sort of bizarre purgatory within the Department.

I welcome the fact that the Minister of State talked about 80 further school programmes. All that many of these schools are asking for is a clear timeline. If it is published on the Department website, as the Minister of State said, that construction on a particular school will start at a particular time, say, September 2026, at least then the schools will know and we can be realistic about the matter. There is a real concern as to how long we will be getting cut-and-paste answers from the Department.

I could mention other schools, including Gorey Hill special school and Ballygarrett National School. For the schools I mentioned that have been stuck for a long time at stage 2b, namely, Glenart College, Bunclody Community College and Coláiste Bhríde Carnew, all they want to know is when they will move beyond stage 2b. The Department should publish that information on the website.

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