Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for being present to deal with this important issue of the school building project for Scoil Bhríde in Portlaoise. As the Minister will be aware, Portlaoise is the fastest growing town in Ireland and Laois is the fastest growing county with a 20% increase based on the recent census figures. Portlaoise also has the highest proportion of pre-school age children for any for any region in the country. While there has been a big increase in population in recent years, it is clear that is continuing and will require additional educational facilities in coming years.

The Minister will be aware that Scoil Bhríde, Knockmay, is the largest primary school in County Laois, with 744 pupils being educated in inadequate accommodation. The school is at stage 2(b) of the Department's process. The parish donated a site free of charge and planning permission has been granted, putting the school in a very strong position. It is seeking to move on to the pre-qualification process as part of the tendering process. It is at that stage and ready to move. The new school site is fully available. The school is paying €200,000 per annum on rent for prefabs. It is also a DEIS school with only eight permanent classrooms as it was built a number of years ago. Some of its prefabs are up to 25 years old.

My request is modest but important for the school. Given that planning permission has been granted and that the school is at stage 2(b) of the Department's process, I am asking that it be allowed enter the pre-qualification tendering process, which will take a number of months - the tendering will also take a few months - with a view to construction commencing in 2013. The Department's latest schedule issued earlier this year indicated that the school would move to construction in 2014 or 2015. A delay to 2015 would be of great concern to the parents concerned.

In that context the four Oireachtas Members from County Laois met the board of management, the teachers and the parents separately. I met them along with the Minister's party colleague recently. I wrote to the Minister on 9 May requesting a meeting with the four Oireachtas Members on the matter. We were very disappointed to receive a letter from the Minister on 14 May stating he was not in a position to meet us. I have never encountered a Minister refusing to meet four Oireachtas colleagues. We did not ask him to visit the school or to meet a delegation from the school for an hour. We understand the time pressure he is under and suggested having a short meeting to put the case. In view of that refusal I have had to deal with the matter by way of Topical Issue.

The children deserve better facilities and there have been considerable second level developments in Portlaoise in recent years. There is a plan for new complexes for five new primary schools in the eastern end of Portlaoise. Portlaoise should have six primary schools fully completed within five or six years but Scoil Bhríde will be the only one on the western half of the town. While that might not mean anything to Members of this House, it is significant in terms of the geography and demographics. While all the others are moving apace - they could move faster, but we accept resources are limited - this is the only school that in this year's announcement was moved into a slow lane.

It had planning approval and was ready to move on to the pre-tender stage. I still believe the Minister could grant agreement to allow it move on to that stage. It will take several months and the Department will not incur capital costs in this calendar year. If that process was allowed to commence and given that preparing the final tendering documents would not involve on-site work, the school should be allowed to commence construction in 2013 rather than a year or two later. It has created great anxiety for those involved in the school. They have taken a long time to get to this stage and now see the process slowed down. We welcome the other development in the town, to which I will refer in my supplementary contribution. It will not cost a considerable amount in the overall scheme of things - it is just moving it forward somewhat faster than the Department had planned.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of Scoil Bhríde primary school in Portlaoise. I welcome the opportunity it affords me to outline the Government's strategy for capital investment in school building projects over the next five years. It also allows me to outline the new school accommodation to be delivered in Portlaoise under the five-year construction programme and to update the Dáil on the status of the new school building project for Scoil Bhríde primary school.

In order to meet the needs of our growing population of school-going children, the Department must establish new schools as well as extend or replace a number of existing schools in areas where demographic growth has been identified. The delivery of these new schools, together with extension projects to meet future demand, will be the main focus for the Department's capital budget for the coming years. Scoil Bhríde is one of 275 schools for which projects which have been scheduled to commence construction over the five years of the programme. In scheduling when each project can proceed to construction, the Department must take into account the funding available annually and the requirement to provide additional school places to meet the increasing demographic needs which I outlined when launching the programme.

There are three major building projects in Portlaoise which have been included in the five-year programme. A single-campus project to provide three new schools on one site for Portlaoise Educate Together, Gaelscoil Phortlaoise and Maryborough national school is scheduled to commence construction in 2013. This project, when complete, will provide 21 additional mainstream classrooms which will accommodate approximately 588 pupils. The additional accommodation being provided in these schools also substantially increases the diversity of provision available in the area. A second project, to deliver two new schools to cater for the amalgamation of St Paul's, the Sacred Heart and Scoil Mhuire national schools is also scheduled to commence construction in 2013. The third project which will see the construction of a new 32-classroom school building with special needs unit for Scoil Bhríde, Knockmay, is scheduled to commence construction in 2014 or 2015.

The design team for Scoil Bhríde is currently working on the stage 2(b) submission, including the preparation of tender documents, which, on completion, will be forwarded to my Department for review. Planning permission, disability access and fire safety certificates have all been secured. In February, the school was requested to contact the Department with regard to pre-qualification of contractors, five weeks prior to its expected date for the submission of the stage 2(b) report. I understand that the school has not yet contacted the Department in this regard. If the Deputy has information to the contrary, perhaps he might let us know. Pre-qualification of contractors is an integral part of the tender process and cannot be conducted too far in advance of the main tender for appointment of the contractor.

Following submission of the stage 2(b) report and assuming no issues arise, my Department will be in further contact with the board of management regarding pre-qualification of contractors at a suitable date to allow the tender and construction of the project to proceed as scheduled on the five-year construction programme.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the time the Minister has given today. The Minister is not saying "No" to commencing construction in 2013-----

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I am not.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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-----although I know he said 2015. That in itself provides some glimmer of hope. I will contact the school and relay the request to contact the Department with regard to the pre-qualification of contractors, five weeks prior to the expected date for the submission of the stage 2(b) report. As the Minister is an architect, he might explain that in simpler English so that we all fully understand what is meant.

Scoil Bhríde had been at the planning permission stage. Owing to the town's population increase in recent years, two major secondary schools - a new CBS and convent, and Portlaoise College run by the VEC - have been completed in Portlaoise,. We have the best suite of modern secondary schools of any town in the country completed in recent years.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Portlaoise deserves them.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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We acknowledge that. As the Minister said, at the Summerhill campus, three primary schools are amalgamating into two and a new site has been acquired for Educate Together the gaelscoil and Maryborough Church of Ireland national school. The Gaelscoil, Educate Together and Maryborough national school are located in the town, so the town already has diversity of provision, albeit not in the best accommodation. Some of them are located in old VEC offices or in quite old buildings. The Gaelscoil has a temporary arrangement, so we look forward to those projects proceeding. However, Scoil Bhríde, Knockmay, was further advanced in the process, given that planning permission has not been obtained for any of the other school projects, yet it is not being allowed to proceed to the pre-tendering and construction stage as soon as some of the other schools.

Will the Minister allow the Scoil Bhríde project to proceed at least at the same pace as the other projects? I urge him not to disadvantage the largest and only major DEIS school in the county by putting it a year or two behind the others. If there are spanking new schools at one end of the town, pupils will drift to those schools and that is understandable. I am sure the Minister has some flexibility in the plan so I ask him to ensure this project does not lag behind the others but moves at the same pace. I conclude with that but perhaps the Minister will confirm precisely what he meant by his earlier reference.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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We fully recognise that Portlaoise is quite extraordinary and unique in the scale and rapidity with which the population has increased. There are procedures in place and we have brought forward our procedures six weeks ahead of the projected time. There are difficulties with the management and the Department, and the Deputy is better placed to find out about those on the ground. Certainly, pre-contract and tendering procedures are required before one can sign off on the contractor. I am speaking in general terms because I do not have the full details on this. A contractor who has been identified as a prospective contractor for the project will have to deliver documentation to confirm that he or the company - it is usually a he but not always - is in a position to proceed and would have the necessary bond information and documentation. That is difficult at present, given the financial situation. I have encountered a number of cases where bonds have been procured and offered but they have not been satisfactory. That might be one of the issues.

However, if the Deputy can contact the school and find out what the difficulty is, he should make direct contact with my office and find out if we can accelerate it. This school is necessary and the construction industry and unemployed construction workers need more work. There is no benefit, interest or political motive on our part in this not proceeding. The provision is in place. I welcome the Deputy raising the matter and if he can come back to me with the information, we will accelerate it.