Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

I wish to share time with Senator Pearse Doherty, who will speak for a minute and a half or so. Ba mhaith liom an cheist seo a ardú i gcomhairle le mo chomhghleacaí, an Seanadóir Ó Dochartaigh. Tá na húdaráis i Scoil Chonaill Naofa i mBun Beag, i bparóiste Ghaoth Dobhair, ag iarraidh cead ón Roinn dul ar aghaidh leis an forbairt atá beartaithe acu. This is not the first time my colleague, Senator Doherty, or I have raised the matter of the Scoil Chonaill Naofa building project on the Adjournment debate.

The issue is to seek approval to go to the next stage. I refer to the background, although I do not wish to cover what I have said previously in the Chamber. The planning and building unit of the Department of Education and Science organised workshops to brief schools and their design teams on the requirements of new contracts, including the Scoil Chonaill Naofa board of management and its quantity surveyor. They met Department officials to discuss and revise the required documentation and to outline the timeframe for the submission of completed tender documents. They went through this process. The Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, with whom I have liaised many times on this project, has advised me in recent days that the Scoil Chonaill Naofa building project is included in the process. The Department met representatives of the school on 26 November last in Tullamore. Thereafter, the school was authorised to complete the necessary revisions to the tender documentation and the schools stage 2b submission was received by the Department of Education and Science on 18 December last, some 34 days ago. This submission is currently under consideration according to the Minister and the school will be notified shortly of progress.

The issue of concern to the school is that subsection (k) of the design team procedures 2007, practice note 1, states, "where approval to go to tender is delayed more than 1 month after the submission of the Stage 2b report, it will be necessary for the Quantity Surveyor to up-date the cost-check prior to issuing tenders". Given that 34 days have elapsed since the required documentation was submitted on 18 December, the school authorities and the board of management are acutely concerned that they may need to revise the costings again and that this could delay the project further.

I understand the Minister and his officials are currently assessing all projects under consideration for the 2010 capital programme. I further understand it is his intention to announce the list of successful projects in the coming weeks. I wish to ensure the Scoil Chonaill Naofa building project is included in the list when it is announced and that as part of the announcement, approval would be granted to the school board of management to seek tenders and to begin construction, which is very important.

To be fair, the school board of management has been very co-operative with the Department. It has done all that has been requested, including attendance at meetings and so on. It has liaised with public representatives, including us. There is a need to have in place a new, modern facility available at the school to provide for the projected, long-term teaching staff of a principal, four mainstream teachers and ancillary staff. This development is required and all the stages have been crossed. Time is elapsing and we are concerned about the 30 day issue, but if the announcement were to materialise the school would be posed and ready to proceed with the development immediately. We trust that given the competitive tenders available at present, a good price, even lower than what was originally anticipated, could be attained. This is what I wish to convey today. l appreciate there may be no announcement today but I call on the Minister for State, Deputy Brady, to speak to the Minister, Deputy O'Keeffe, to underline the urgency of having the project included in the capital envelope for this year.