Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Who will respond to this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills?

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I will.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State, Deputy John Halligan, will respond.

Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I want to raise the matter of Scoil Naomh Feichín in Termonfeckin. This primary school has for years campaigned for a seven-classroom extension that is required to accommodate the growth in population in the Termonfeckin area. Parents, staff and the community have campaigned for years to have the funding for this seven-classroom extension approved. It is ludicrous to think that communities have to mount a campaign to fight both the Minister and the Department for adequate school buildings and classrooms. However, that is a matter for another day's debate.

It is my understanding that late last year a commitment was given by the Department of Education and Skills, under its five-year capital programme, that the building of the seven-classroom extension would go ahead in 2016. Now the school has been told by the Minister that the Department has reneged on this commitment and the project will not go ahead this year. I received a reply the week before last to a parliamentary question I put to the Minister asking him why the funding had not been released despite a commitment that it would be given. I also asked how much money had been allocated for the project. I asked when this money would be available and when we could expect construction to begin. The Minister did not answer even one of my questions. Instead, the response detailed other projects under construction which had absolutely nothing to do with Scoil Naomh Feichín. The response also said that the money is gone. It is outrageous that the Minister could not or would not answer these simple questions. One must ask why the commitment was given if there was no intention whatsoever of following through on it. Why would a Department, Minister or Government do that, particularly in light of the effort and the campaign by the community over the years? Why would it give a clear-cut commitment that funding had been approved and the work would start this year? Was it just another empty election promise? Was it a gimmick, a stunt or simple incompetence? Is the Department so incompetent that it cannot correctly manage its own capital investment budget? Is that the case? What one finds now is that the Department may have discovered that the cupboard was bare and that it has no money after six months of the year. What does it take to hold this Government to a commitment? This came as a devastating blow to the community that has campaigned so hard over the years and worked so hard to get the project this far.

They had understood that this commitment was genuine. They had no reason to question the commitment that the school extension would be built this year. How disappointed and devastated they are.

What remedy is the Minister proposing? Will the Minister give a new date for the commencement of the works? I would rather not get the same watered-down avoidance answer that I got to my parliamentary question. It is a straightforward question. Will the Minister give the commencement date for this project on which the Government gave an absolute commitment only six months ago to the community in Termonfeckin that the funding was secured and the building would start this year?

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the matter as it provides me with an opportunity to clarify the current position on the major school building project for Scoil Naomh Feichín in County Louth.

First, I did not make any commitment, as Deputy Munster may understand, because I was not Minister at the time. I will be quite blunt and honest with the Deputy. I am not aware of a commitment that was made to the school. I can tell the Deputy the following.

Scoil Naomh Feichín is a co-educational vertical primary school under the patronage of the Catholic diocese of Armagh. The brief for the project is to provide an extension of seven classrooms and refurbishment of the existing accommodation to cater for a 16-classroom school. The staffing at the school is currently a principal with 11 mainstream teachers and two special education teachers. The enrolment for 2015-16 school year was 295 pupils, which reflects an incremental growth of 2% over the past five years.

The design team for this project was appointed in February 2012 when the project commenced architectural planning. However, the problem, as I have been told, was that project was not included in the five-year construction programme announced in 2012. The project was subsequently included in the six-year construction programme announced in November 2015 and is scheduled to commence construction in 2016.

The building project for Scoil Naomh Feichín is now at an advanced stage of architectural planning. All statutory approvals have been obtained, tender documents have been prepared and the stage 2B submission has been approved by my Department.

However, on 1 January 2016 there were 66 major projects under construction. Since the start of this year, 14 more major projects have been progressed to construction which brings to 36 the number of projects authorised to progress through the tender process with a view to starting on site in the coming months. That represents a total of 116 major projects, either under construction or progressing to commence construction in 2016. The existing contractual commitments for 2016 now fully account for the funding which was allocated for 2016 under the previous Government. This meant that the progression of the major extension and refurbishment for that particular project to tender stage was not possible at that time. Apparently, Department officials wrote to the board of management on 28 April, before I became Minister, notifying it of this.

However, having read all the submissions, the Department has said it will monitor expenditure on existing contractual commitments over the coming months and, as funding allows, other projects, including this, will be considered for progression through the tender process with a view of starting on site as soon as possible.

The commitment I can give to Deputy Munster is that I will speak to the Department over the next couple of weeks. I will find if a commitment was made, as Deputy Munster has said it was, under the previous Government. Being honest and upfront with Deputy Munster, I do not know that and the Deputy must take my word on that. I give Deputy Munster my word that, having spoken to the Department, I will come back to her. That is the best I can do.

Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. Since the new Government was formed and we were all told about new politics, etc., there has not been one day that I have sat in the Chamber that I have heard questions put by any elected representative to the Government party Ministers that were answered appropriately and in a straightforward way. Tonight, Deputy after Deputy got up and asked questions and none of the questions was answered. If that is new politics, God help us.

I note the Minister of State who responded to me is not the Minister in charge but it comes back again to the questions I asked about it. It is okay for a Minister or a Department to make a commitment pre-election and then post-election abandon any commitment, but it has a devastating effect on those communities, students, parents and staff at the school. That school is overcrowded. They have been campaigning for years and no matter what was said, the commitment was given that the funding was secured and building would go ahead this year.

It comes down to the couple of questions. Was it a gimmick? Was it an empty election promise or is the Department so incompetent that it cannot correctly manage its capital investment budget? Is that the case? If neither of those is the case, then will the Minister give a commitment for the funding to be approved and a commencement date for the work to start on the badly needed seven classroom extension in Scoil Naomh Feichín?

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Once again, all I can say to Deputy Munster, and she can only take me on my word on this, is that I am not aware of a commitment. If she states a commitment was given, I believe her. I ask Deputy Munster to bear with me for a few weeks and I will check back to see if a commitment was given. I did not give a commitment. This current Government did not give this commitment. If Deputy Munster says it was given, it was given. I do not know, and that is fair as I can say it to the Deputy.

As I said earlier, I will have a look at the expenditure again and go back to the Department. If that commitment was given and broken and the expenditure was given out elsewhere, I do not know what I can do about that. I am told that, in expenditure on existing contractual commitments over the next few months, there may very well be expenditure that will become available. If that commitment, which I and the present Government did not give, was given, I will have a look at that, I will meet Deputy Munster and I will go through everything with her to see where we can progress from here. I would not like to think that a commitment was given and not kept, but all I can say to Deputy Munster is that I did not make that commitment. I will revert back to the Deputy within a week.