Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy McGrath for his response, for his advocacy on behalf of the schools and for taking the time to go and visit both schools and provide feedback on the floor of the Dáil on what he has seen. This is a little bit more complex than some proposals because we are talking about the amalgamation of two schools. We are also talking about a site that is privately owned and that must come into the ownership of the Cork Diocesan Trust first. The fact that a project manager is already in place and is looking at this and preparing the tender documents is quite helpful but there is that added dimension of ownership which I assume will need to be sorted out.

I went back to the Department of Education to ask if would be possible to get a clear timeframe that I could give the Deputy today. As the Deputy said in his opening remarks, this is at pre-stage one which is why the Department was not able to give me either a start or completion date. The context is that the site needs to be transferred into new ownership and the tender needs to go live. The documentation is being worked on for that tender to go live, which I hope the Deputy will agree is very encouraging. I will pass on his feedback in relation to the conditions the staff and students of the schools are working in.

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