James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The town of Maynooth has experienced rapid growth in the past 20 years or more as a primary commuter town in north Kildare. The school-going population at secondary level has multiplied in that time so that the demand now extends to 2,000 secondary school places. In this context an application was made for an extension of the then secondary school, Maynooth post-primary school, in 2009. Unfortunately, at that point a very sorry saga began to unfold. After that application for an extension was made, it was decided that, rather than extending the building, a new school was to be built and that another new school was to commence enrolling in the town. Maynooth community college was announced in 2012 and commenced enrolment in 2014. The decision to proceed with these two schools as two new school buildings on the Moyglare Road in Maynooth was made and the process began. Unfortunately, even after those decisions were made the process was fraught with delay. After painstakingly getting from 2012, when the decision was made to open Maynooth community college, to 2014, when it began enrolment, and on to 2016, when the tender finally issued, a problem then arose with the tender. Indeed, one of the first meetings I attended after being elected to this House was a meeting with the Minister and the parents and staff of the schools on Maynooth education campus to discuss the issue of that tender. That tender was sent back to the drawing board to be revised and a new tender was drawn up and awarded to Sammon Construction in 2017. I was happy to join the Minister, other Oireachtas Members, Councillor Naoise Ó Cearúil, the local parent groups and school staff at the turning of the sod in 2017.

It appeared at last that things were moving on again for the Maynooth education campus. Disaster struck last month when the Sammon Group announced it was going into liquidation. Our sympathies are with the 200 workers from that group, many of whom are local to Kildare and Meath, and the company as a whole. The company had been in examinership for some months. Work on the site has ground to a halt. The school is half built and is at a standstill. It is in limbo, as is the entire school community. We understand that tendering must occur again. The school that was initially due to open in the new buildings in 2016 is now to open in 2020. It is no less than an unmitigated disaster for parents, students, staff and the entire Maynooth community.

It is worth noting the conditions in the existing buildings. The two schools, which are currently located in 18 buildings, towards the bottom of Moyglare Road, are at breaking point. They lack the physical capacity to take any more students. There is a one-way system in operation in the current school. Children must walk one way around in order to avoid bumping into one another. Including in poor weather, children have to go outside their building to move from one place to another. Transition year students are already being educated in the shopping centre at Manor Mills, which is separate from the school site.

Management and students have done their very best but can do no more. Even allowing for the delays, and had the tender re-awarded in 2017 progressed, it was hoped to be in the new premises by Christmas 2018. Now they face a best-case scenario of September 2020.

I pay tribute to the school principals, Siobhán McCauley and Johnny Nevin, for all the efforts they have made, along with the parent-teacher association and school community, to manage the situation to this point. They now need some clarity and direction, however. This is the third tender issued for the schools. One can say there is no point crying over spilt milk but it beggars belief that, considering the company was in examinership and with a liquidation quite likely, no contingency plan appears to have been put in place. What would happen if the very predictable outcome, liquidation, actually occurred? I fail to understand how that was not spotted by the Department or patrons. What are the next steps? How quickly can the school be delivered? Can the process be expedited given the delays that have beleaguered this project for almost ten years at this stage? What are the best and worst timescales? I seek answers to give the school community some comfort and clarity regarding the road ahead for the buildings that are so urgently needed.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Lawless for raising this issue. Clearly, this is a very disappointing state of affairs. Nobody could have anticipated the Sammon Group going into liquidation but that is the situation in which we find ourselves. We have taken immediate steps to get this project back on track. Unfortunately, however, the implications of a change of contract are serious. I do not want to understate the amount of work that has to be done in this regard. The Deputy will understand that no builder would take over the project without the correct and detailed specifications and the schedule of works and drawings, and without certainty as to what is to be carried out. The State has to have such certainty in regard to what it is tendering. Therefore, a substantial amount of work has to be done. I have briefly summarised it in the statement that has been circulated. Surveys have to be completed and works need to be undertaken. This leads to an identification of the works remaining to be carried out by a new contractor. This is detailed work. This work is followed by revised drawings, together with updated work schedules. Tender documents based on the revised work schedules and drawings are prepared. The works are tendered to the market for a new contractor.

I would love to be able to tell the Deputy that this is simple and fast work. It has to be done painstakingly and accurately. My officials have met the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board and its design team. We have a good team in place. It is working hard to limit the time it will take to deliver this project. A critical path has been worked out, with very tight timelines for the various elements.

In order to speed things up, we have agreed that a pre-qualification process for new contractors can be engaged in while the survey work is being done. Therefore, there will not be a hold-up in that regard. A tender notice has been published on the e-tenders website seeking expressions of interest from contractors wishing to be considered for the completion of the project.

Another notable development is that the design team has made arrangements to have the precast work in the main structure and the steelwork on the roofs completed, and this is expected to be done by August. This arrangement will mean the superstructure will be completed and certified and a neat site can be handed over to a new contractor. We believe that will help to accelerate the delivery of the project.

In the meantime, the identification of all other outstanding works to complete both schools is ongoing to make ready for the tendering among the pre-qualified contractors in due course. The current works programme indicates a re-tendering of the project to pre-qualified contractors towards the end of this year with a view to having a contractor back on site by the end of March 2019.

My Department has been closely liaising with Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board to develop matters and it will continue to liaise with the board until the project satisfactorily reaches completion. Officials are also working with the board to ensure the needs of the two schools in their existing accommodation are met until their new accommodation is available.

I acknowledge this is a disappointment to people. Maynooth is an area I know very well. As Deputy Lawless said, I was present when the site was opened and noted the optimism that accompanied the opening. It is disappointing that we had a setback but I am confident that the team we have in place will get this major project back on track. It is the largest project of this kind ever undertaken by the State, with 2,000 pupil places. We will endeavour to get it back on track as quickly as possible.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Based on figures I sourced locally, we are still facing a two-year delay. I thank the Minister for his reply but he does not appear to have given a date or detailed timeline for the new build. It may be a case of "once bitten, twice shy" but we need some clarity and assurances on the new timeframe to allow the parents, school community and school management to begin to plan and make the necessary arrangements. What supports will be given by the Department to the schools to manage the accommodation for the next 18 months, two years or three years? What is the timeline? As I said, this is already a crisis.

Given that this is the largest schools building project in the history of the State, how hands-on has the Department been? How hands-on does it intend to be? Have lessons been learned? How is it possible that a company entering examinership in the midst of such a large, critical State project did not trigger contingency planning immediately? In the private sector, one would imagine it would happen immediately. I fail to understand how it was possible.

I asked what supports will be provided. More than anything, we need assurance given to the school community, town, students and parents that this will be taken in hand, that the Minister will be hands-on in managing it, and that the Department will take it under its remit to ensure there are no further delays. After ten years, and three tenders - third time lucky - we cannot afford to slip again. Will the Minister commit to meeting interested parties, as needed, to give those assurances and to involve himself personally in this project as it proceeds to completion, as I hope it will? Those assurances, after ten years of delay and disarray, are badly needed and extremely important for the town of Maynooth.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy must bear in mind that an examinership is a court process designed to help the company to recover. It is not a liquidation whereby everyone goes in and seizes sites. Under the examinership, work continued on the Maynooth site. It was the one site that the examiner sought to continue to progress as other efforts were made to deliver the project. Clearly, the best outcome would have been that the examinership would have succeeded and that the contractor would have been able to complete the work. That was clearly the alternative. What we now have to do, as I outlined in my few comments, is some very detailed work to certify exactly what has been completed and what remains to be done. That involves detailed survey work, detailed specifications, detailed design and detailed drawings, which we simply could not have done during an ongoing examinership.

We took steps to ensure that the State’s interests were protected throughout the period. Given the failure of the examinership, we are working to secure the best outcome.

As I indicated earlier, the contractor will go on site in March 2019 and the scheduled completion date is June 2020. It is the intention that this will be adhered to. That will take the co-operation of everyone involved.

We will seek to accommodate the schools in any way we can, whether it is through temporary accommodation or other assistance which may be necessary. This is an important project. I assure the Deputy that I will take a close personal interest in it. I have arranged that my Department will keep me updated of the critical path which has been set out in order that, if there is any slippage, we can consider other steps to address it. I am confident in the team put in place. I hope we can deliver. I fully understand the Deputy’s concerns, which are shared by the Acting Chairman.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Absolutely.