Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister and the Ceann Comhairle's office for allowing me to raise the issue. I have raised it before as a Topical Issue matter and in a huge number of parliamentary questions over a long period.

The amalgamation of the schools in Kanturk is a long-running issue and has met huge obstacles and difficulties. It is an amalgamation of two fantastic schools - the boys' school and the girls' school in Kanturk. It was first mooted a long time ago when issues such as the procurement of the site, access to the site and planning permissions were considered. There have been many obstacles. I want an outline from the Minister and the Department of Education and Skills on the roadmap as we go forward for the jigsaw involving the local authority, land acquisition, trying to secure planning and the acquisition of the property. At one stage the Department appealed the decision. It was the first time an applicant appealed a decision to the board as a result of issues surrounding it. There is huge frustration with the project within the school community in Kanturk and the wider community there. Many people I meet have given up completely on expecting it to progress. While a flag has been raised that the new school has been sanctioned, the official sanction was given in 2010 or 2011 and it had been sanctioned even before that. It has gone through a very protracted process.

Will the Minister put the exact process before the Dáil? Where do we go from here? How far away are we from tender documents going out? How far away are we from actually making sure the project will start and go to construction? When does the Department envisage the school will be open for students? Many dates have been given over recent years, which is hugely frustrating for the boards of management and the communities involved. Of all the projects, there have been more representations made by me and other public representatives down through the years to try to get this up and running.

Now is the time. I understand the money was sanctioned a long time ago but where do we go from here? When do the Department and Minister believe the project will commence? There was no mention of it in any of the capital plan announcements. There is a bit of scepticism about how we go forward. What is the position? When will it go to tender? When do the Minister and his Department believe construction will start? When does the Minister believe the school will be completed for pupils, staff and the entire community of Kanturk to move into the long-awaited new school? We will start with those questions and I may have some supplementary questions for the Minister.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising the issue. It is an issue of considerable concern. I have spoken to the Deputy's constituency colleagues, including the Minister, Deputy Creed, and others, who share his frustration. I understand it. It has a very long history. The planning process started way back in 2012 at which point planning permission was refused by Cork County Council on the ground of access. It then came up with an alternative approach to access and alternative site access proposals. They were granted but subject to conditions that, as Deputy Moynihan has said, the Department felt could be leaving them exposed to building a school that would not have adequate access and could not open. Based on the conditions, the Department instructed the Office of Public Works, OPW, to appeal the conditions to An Bord Pleanála but they were upheld so the Department had to proceed. That has added complexity to the project.

I understand the project has been delayed in more recent times due to issues concerning clarification of the ownership of the lands adjacent to the site and on a number of sides, the passing of some of that land into county council ownership, and the acquisition of licences that are required to carry out the necessary enabling works for the project. I gather the issue was related to building an access road and footpath which were required due to the new condition.

I am pleased to note that the issue around the land passing into county council ownership has been resolved and a licence has been received from the county council to allow the necessary electrical cable enabling works on that land to proceed. This development permitted the OPW to agree a design with the ESB for the works and the OPW is now proceeding to tender for them. I gather that that element of the works could take up to nine months as it involves groundworks and overhead diversion works, all of which must be completed. A further licence from another landowner to allow foul sewer works during the building project has progressed and is now being finalised. That does not hold up the enabling works for the electrical works, which are now proceeding to tender.

With the progression of the enabling works my Department will be in a position to approve the pre-qualification of contractors for the project later this year and then to approve the project to proceed to tender and construction. While I fully understand the frustration the Deputy and the various stakeholders in St. Colman's boys school and the Convent of Mercy girls school in Kanturk have experienced, we are now in sight of getting all the issues resolved and will be in a position to move to the pre-qualification stage for contractors. I am encouraged by that and I assure the Deputy that my Department is determined to push this project on, given the difficult experience people have had.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister mentioned a period of nine months for the enabling works. Will he clarify the position in that regard because we need certainty on the progress of the project? The Minister indicated in the second last paragraph of his reply that there has been progress in obtaining a further licence from another landowner to allow the foul sewer works during the building project. Has the licence been completely finalised or will there be a delay while we await its completion?

Six years ago in 2012, when the project first went to planning permission after the OPW sourced the site, difficult issues arose in terms of site acquisition and dealing with the site. Will the Minister indicate how long the process will take in terms of the enabling works and the appointment of contractors? What is the Department's indicative timeframe? Will the Minister also indicate when the tender documents will be released? I am interested in learning about the genuine timeframe. We do not want to hear deadlines that cannot be met. We want the factual position on when the tender documents will be released in order that people can physically see the project is moving on. Does the Department have a timeframe for completion of the project provided everything goes according to plan?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Moynihan rightly indicated why the Department does not give firm timelines, because we do not know what might happen during a tender process that was not anticipated. I refer, for example, to issues arising with ground conditions that were not fully anticipated. The Department does not say a project will take a specific period because, as Deputy Moynihan rightly said, people would feel frustrated at the perceived setback. As I understand it, the issue relating to the land is being finalised. That is not to say that it is not impossible that something would go wrong but the Department is fairly confident that that element is agreed and that it will be able to proceed. The tenders are being issued in respect of the ESB works, and on the successful completion of those tenders, it is expected that the work would take six to nine months. Those elements are reasonably predictable, and to prevent a delay, it is our intention to pre-qualify contractors so that we are not holding up that stage with the various enabling works are being done. We are taking an approach that cuts out any unnecessary loops. I assure the Deputy that we will keep a close eye on this to make sure that the difficult experience does not continue to frustrate people, as I well understand has been the case.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I will return to the matter again at some future point.