Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Killeen, for his attendance today and his summing up of our debate, which was remarkably lucid. I followed it on the monitor.

This motion concerns a secondary school in Kilbeggan. A commission on education stated a considerable time ago that Kilbeggan should have a new secondary school on a greenfield site. To that end, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, met with a delegation from the Kilbeggan secondary school, including the principal and two of the trustees, who are nuns of the Mercy order, myself and Deputy Cassidy. We had an extremely good meeting, during the course of which the Minister stated she would ask the Board of Works to assess various sites, see what was available and at what price range. Total silence has ensued. I receive a massive number of letters from parents quite rightly wondering what is happening. They read the commission report, heard of the meeting with the Minister and want to know what is happening regarding the new secondary school in Kilbeggan.

Kilbeggan is a growing town. The rise in numbers in the secondary school is remarkable. It has a well-deserved reputation based on the tradition of the Sisters of Mercy, who opened a secondary school there when nobody else was willing to do so. Be that as it may, it is a live issue. A remarkably wide range of subjects is offered, with teachers to match. Students come from all over rural south Westmeath, including Streamstown, Dysart, Bohar, Horseleap, Ballinagore, Castletowngeoghegan and Kilbeggan itself. Will the Minister bring this matter to a conclusion as quickly as possible so the people of Kilbeggan will know when the provision of this new secondary school will definitely progress?