Joe O'Toole (Independent)

The Minister did not say a word about these stages. This leaves the House with a shortfall in information. It precisely illustrates the point I am making that one can hear much but learn nothing.

If the Minister says a particular school is in band 1 and outlines the appropriate criteria, I accept that without question. The question is, as Senator Norris asked, how a school can move from band 1 to the stage where a spade is put in the ground. How long after attaining band 1 status will the JCBs move in? When a school gets to the detailed design and sketch stage, how does it move to the next stage? Reference was made during this debate to a school whose management was told 11 years ago that a design team would be assigned. Nothing has happened. I heard a school manager speaking on the radio this morning about the absence of any progress since he received a letter from the Minister in October 2006 informing him that a design team was to be appointed to the school. Blennerville national school in Tralee began the application process in 1996 and was told it was ready to move to stage one. The school is still waiting for a design team to be sent in. Dromclough national school is waiting since January 2006 for a design team. Rahan national school in Mallow is awaiting the arrival of the design team it was promised in 2003 or 2004. There are too many such examples to recount.

This is the crux of the issue. It is not a question of the bands but rather the stages of the building process. Every time a particular schools building project is raised on the Adjournment debate, including schools in Senator Keaveney's county, the question is always about when the design team will come or when the construction contract will be put out to tender. Today, however, the Minister did not make even a passing reference to this process for the simple reason that she did not dare do so. I understand well her reluctance.