Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for attending this important Topical Issue debate. The relocation of Curraghmore national school in Mullingar should be a good news story for the locality. However, it has become frustrating for pupils, teachers and parents. Breaking point is long past for all those involved in the process. There have been nine revised programmes of works and nine false dates for the completion of delivery, including September 2018, October 2018, December 2018, April 2019, June 2019, July 2019, September 2019 and now October 2019. Each date brought a false dawn. Parents must now put in place contingency measures because they are being advised that the school will not be delivered for new students in September 2019. Of the 287 pupils, 47 are going off site. Those going to Kinnegad have special needs and are some of the most vulnerable children in society. The programme changes are causing their parents frustration at a time when certainty in their daily lives is being cried out for.

Some €7,500 per month is being spent at Curraghmore national school on ten portakabins. The Department is renting out the St. Loman's Mullingar GAA club to accommodate children. There is also a cost associated in going to Kinnegad. What of the human cost? Some parents must pay for additional afterschool care because, even though they already have children attending the school, their children who are new students are being moved to a different site. This is adding to the pressure of getting students to school, which is wholly unacceptable in light of the series of completion dates. To be fair, the school's delivery has been managed in an appropriate manner by Westmeath County Council. Mr. Murty Hanly, who is the school's project manager, has worked day and night to deliver it, often at the expense of his personal time, including family holidays. He has gone step by step to try to deliver the school on time. The principal, Mr. Michael Molloy, and the school's staff are also frustrated.

I commend the Minister on visiting Mullingar and meeting the board of management in an attempt to progress this issue, but we must pursue the developer morning, noon and night for the project's delivery. There is a national outcry because a number of school projects are late owing to a gap in tender law. We must examine the legislation. When a new tender is drafted, a company that is consistently late with its projects can still apply for it. We need a traffic light system whereby past performance in projects is measured. As legislators, we must ensure that the system is up to the mark.

Speaking as someone who has followed this project for more than a decade, the series of bumps in the road have been frustrating. Now that the school is at a stage of 80% completion, there is a further delay. My colleague, Councillor Andrew Duncan, has secured this issue as a permanent item on the agenda at Mullingar municipal district meetings, with councillors getting updates for the parents, pupils and staff on a monthly basis.

I appeal to the Minister to keep the pressure on the developer. I cannot express enough the frustration and outcry in my community concerning what should be a brilliant news story, namely, the delivery of a new state-of-the-art 16-teacher school for Westmeath, which will be a major asset to the area.

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta fáchoinne an ábhair seo a ardú inniu. Ábhar iontach tábhachtach atá ann. Tuigim na deacrachtaí agus na míbhuntáistí atá i gceist agus tuigim an frustrachas atá ar an bpobal, ar na scoláirí, ar na tuismitheoirí agus ar na múinteoirí uilig sa cheantar.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, as it gives me the opportunity to provide an update to the House on the current position regarding Holy Family primary school, Mullingar, previously known as Curraghmore national school. I am conscious that this new school building project was in gestation for many years before it went to site in 2017. The project, which has been devolved for delivery to Westmeath County Council, will provide a new school building comprising 16 classrooms and a special needs unit.

It is in the nature of any building project that difficulties can arise. The objective always is to deal with these as efficiently as possible in order to minimise delays as well as costs. However, these difficulties can lead to some additional costs by way of request for change orders by the contractor and can arise during the construction period of any building contract.

The initial delays with this school project arose primarily because the contractor encountered bad unforeseen ground conditions together with severe weather events.

In addition, as with any building contract, issues may arise that form disputes between the design team and the contractor. There is nothing unusual about this and the public works contract provides dispute resolution mechanisms to deal with such matters. A number of issues of this nature have arisen on the Holy Family project and these have been referred to conciliation in accordance with the contract. Most of the matters are still being considered within the conciliation process, so I am limited in what I can say in that respect.

Let the House be in no doubt that I consider that the delays which have arisen in recent months are completely unacceptable for all concerned, particularly as the school will have to continue to operate from unsatisfactory conditions with an increasing number of enrolments until its new building is ready. The programme provided by the contractor which had indicated a completion date in July was most recently changed to provide for a completion date in October. Westmeath County Council has expressed to the contractor its disappointment with the level of resources on site and the slow progress of the construction programme. However, I can inform the House that the council reported to my officials earlier today that there has been a significant improvement in the activity on site. The project is well over 80% complete, with only the installation of doors remaining to make the project fully protected against the elements. On that basis, I am hopeful that the project will be completed in October as now planned. I am conscious that lists of dates have been previously mentioned and that we are now giving another date, this time in October. I am also conscious of the deep frustration of parents and the board of management and I wish to acknowledge the various stakeholders who have been persevering with the project. Deputy Burke cannot be accused of ignoring this issue. He keeps raising it with me formally and informally and I know that is something that will ensure that we can meet the October deadline.

In the meantime, my Department has met and worked closely with the patron and school authorities of Holy Family in order to put in place contingency arrangements to ensure that the needs of the school for the coming academic year are being met. It is unfortunate, given that the building will not now be ready by September 2019, that these plans will have to be activated. As already stated, the school authorities and the patron of a school in Kinnegad have kindly agreed to provide temporary accommodation for a number of special needs pupils as an alternative to home tuition for those children. The Department will be providing the funding needed to facilitate this arrangement. I wish to express my thanks to the patron and school management of that school and the personnel, including the clerk of works, whom I met in a portakabin on the site when the Deputy and I visited it. I thank them for their efforts to ensure that we will achieve this timeline in October. One of my team members is from County Westmeath and very aware of this project, which he raises on a weekly basis. Decanting from the old to the new school will not be a problem because the new premises is only around the corner. We will keep it on the agenda and I have no doubt that the Deputy will keep me up to date over the summer.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his detailed response. I am heartened that the project is more than 80% complete and that activity on site has increased. However, we need to keep pressure on day and night and move mountains to ensure that the project is delivered by October. I am thinking of the children with special needs who will be upset at being moved to Kinnegad, their parents and all those affected. It is not good enough that they are upset because when the Department commits to a school being ready and provides funding in its capital budget to deliver the school, that commitment should be met. Through the history of this project, I have dealt with a series of boards of management. The only person who has been consistently involved from the start in the push to relocate the school is its principal, Mr. Michael Molloy. I appeal to the Minister to expedite the delivery of the school.

The equipment in the school has depreciated over a number of years. I appeal to the Department to look favourably on providing upgraded equipment for the new school. That is the least we can do in light of the circumstances everyone involved has faced in the course of the project.

We must bear in mind that legislative change in respect of tender law in this country is required in order to bring in a traffic light system for new projects such that past performance is taken into account before a contract may be awarded. We need to protect ourselves. For me, there is nothing worse than walking into a room in front of 40 new parents and them asking what I can do about this. The worst part is that procurement law cannot be overridden in terms of the contract that was signed with the contractor. We must accept that. However, we need to pursue the contractor to deliver the project and ensure the October deadline is met. That must be cast in stone.

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I will not repeat myself. I am sure the parents of children in the school do not want to hear the same thing over and over again. One thing I can say for certain is that this project is not out of sight or out of mind. It is on the radar and I know the Deputy will keep it there.

On the Deputy's question on equipment, departmental officials asked the school to evaluate or assess which items of equipment and furniture, including ICT equipment, can be transferred to the new school. That is currently being assessed. If there is a need for support in regard to furniture, equipment and ICT needs, we will step up to the plate.

I hope that decanting from the old school to the new one will take place in October. I do not like setting deadlines as too many have been missed, but we must do so in order to keep the pressure on. The project is 80% complete and will soon be protected from the elements. The necessary work will soon be completed.

I again acknowledge the board of management, the parents' association and the various stakeholders. The role of the clerk of works is of great importance. Last October, Deputies raised the issue of the importance of following regulations and so on in schools building projects. The role of the clerk of works is very important. I saw the clerk of works for this project in action and I wish to acknowledge that he is doing an incredible job and putting his personal time into the project to ensure it gets over the line.