Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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35. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason for the delay in the construction of phase 2 of a school (details supplied); the likely construction date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1296/17]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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I have to say it is an affront I have even had to table the question, which is about phase 2 of the construction of Lusk community college. I tabled this question 18 months ago, when the construction should have been completed. Now, 18 months on, which is 30% of the educational lifetime of the students, it has not even started. I want to know the reason for the delay and when will construction be delivered.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The project raised by the Deputy was authorised to proceed to tender in October 2016. This project is the second phase of accommodation for the school in question and will cater for an additional 650 pupils. Phase 2 of the project will also provide a special needs unit, a sports hall with a fitness suite and changing facilities and ancillary accommodation, including a school library. Once this phase is completed it will bring the capacity of the school up to 1,000 pupils.

An incomplete stage 2(b) submission from the design team was received in my Department in July 2016, leading to a request for further information. A fully compliant stage 2(b) submission was received in September 2016. The stage 2(b) submission was approved and the project was approved to proceed to tender in October. However, as the pre-qualification of contractors had first been conducted by the design team in April 2015, the design team, concerned about the possibility of legal challenges, asked the Office of Government Procurement for advice on this matter. The advice was that it would be prudent to run the pre-qualification again.

The design team has recently rerun the pre-qualification of suitable contractors and is finalising a shortlist of up to ten contractors who will be requested to tender for the project. Subject to no issues arising, it is anticipated that construction will commence in the summer of 2017 and the project is scheduled to take approximately 18 months to complete.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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I am sure the Minister appreciates the entire debacle has been a devastating blow to the community, which has waited 30 years for its own secondary school in one of the most rapidly expanding urban parts of Dublin. I wants to know who is at fault. When I tabled the question 18 months ago, I was told the tender documentation and the architectural planning was at an advanced stage. The Minister now tells me that eight months later there was a fault in that, which meant another tendering process had to kick in. Who is on the design team? To whom are they answerable? Who pays? At present, the people paying are the students in Lusk who are not getting the same calibre of education as their peers because they are in overcrowded classrooms. We know there is an overreliance on prefabs, a high density of students congregating in the one communal area and insufficient class sizes for specialised subjects. A year ago, the Department stated the laboratory facilities were inadequate for the number of classes. The number of classes is now even greater. It is not much solace that it will probably be delivered in 2018 when people thought and were assured it should have been developed in 2016. To whom is the design team answerable and who is at fault for the incomplete documentation submitted in July 2016?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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It is my understanding the design team was appointed by the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board. To be fair, I have seen delays occur in many school projects and the question of looking for a fault or ascribing fault is not always the route to go. There may have been some unanticipated problems that cropped up such as planning issues. It is not my business to try to ascribe fault. The Department has been fair. We try to make sure we use our resources to the very best effect. We would not be thanked if it proceeded to tender and there was a legal challenge and next thing we were in the courts fighting a case about an aggrieved person who felt he or she should have got the tender. Processes are in place to protect the taxpayer and the school and they have been applied in this case. I will not get into the business of trying to ascribe fault because I do not know the full record of how this proceeded. I have explained the situation that there was an incomplete submission and this was corrected and it has been approved. On legal advice a fresh tender process has been undertaken.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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I appreciate the Minister cannot comment or would not have the level of detail, and I am not interested in fault for the sake of it, but I am interested in lessons being learned and problems not reoccurring. The simple fact of the matter is that in September 2015, when the project should have been completed, I was told by the Minister's predecessor that issues were at an advanced stage awaiting tender documentation. The Minister has told me this documentation, which was handed in nine months later, in July 2016, was incomplete. How could this be and who are the design team? I assume they are private contractors and that they are on a departmental panel. Is this something they have done in other areas, because if they are doing this job one would think they would have that level of expertise. The people paying the price for this are the students now in the facility, who are not being given access. They have only one chance at an education and they have already lost 30% of their educational life when we delayed previously. Now the Minister is telling me there will be another 30% wait until it is completed. Neither myself nor the parents can take great solace from this because we were told this before and it was not delivered. Will the Minister go back and have a look at this, or ask his departmental officials to look at why the documents were incomplete in the nine-month period, given that when I asked the question the project should have already been completed.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I will ask the departmental officials to examine whether there are lessons to be learned from this experience. I just do not know that. Obviously, in the first instance a design team is accountable to the school, in this case the ETB. I do not know whether it was an oversight, a mistake or what it was, but I will ask officials to have a look at what was the source of delay and whether there are lessons to be learned.