Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Richmond for raising this issue. I can understand the concerns of parents because the situation is unusual, in that temporary accommodation has to be moved to a new site. However, this does signify the success of the school.

There are nine mainstream classes which will increase to 11 in September 2017. That necessitates a move from the current site. We are fortunate in that earlier this year, as Senator Neale knows, the Department completed the purchase of the Notre Dame site, which offers a solution to the need for Ballinteer Educate Together national school to move, pending completion of its own school premises on the St. Tiernan's site. Obviously, the provisions for the school on the new site are being worked on by my Department.A technical assessment of the campus is currently being carried out. We will need to complete that before we can answer a number of the questions the Senator raised. We will seek to accommodate, to the best of our ability, the needs of parents without there being any disruption. I took a note of the points the Senator raised specifically regarding traffic plans, co-ordination with other schools and so on. I will endeavour to get back to him with responses to those in so far as that is possible, but some of them will necessitate the completion of the technical assessment.

On the wider issue of the building a school for Ballinteer Educate Together national school, the Senator will be aware of the planning history. A planning application was submitted to the relevant local authority but it was refused on grounds of site access. That decision was appealed to the An Bord Pleanála but subsequently withdrawn to facilitate an amended outline planning permission but that, in turn, was refused on similar grounds. I can understand the frustration that has built up. A series of attempts were evidently made in good faith but they have not been successful in meeting the needs. While an appeal was lodged on foot of the decision on the second planning permission application, it has since been withdrawn and the Department and the local authority are meeting to discuss appropriate access routes with a view to a further planning application being submitted as soon as possible.

I can understand the Deputy saying that we should be able to clearly trace details of land purchase, planning permission and then track the process out on a very clear critical path but having been twice bitten, it would make one shy on a third occasion. There is no doubt we will have to submit a planning application and secure a satisfactory site. Any land purchase is always confidential until every element of it is complete. I can understand why the Senator is seeking a clear timetable for some of these issues, and I would be looking for those myself, but I am equally aware that with respect to many of the schools with which I deal, which have submitted planning applications and designs, that hitches arise which, with the best will in the world, are unavoidable in terms of the choice of the design team and additional ideas related to the scale that are put forward during the course of the process. All these aspects can delay a process.

I do not want to nail down a critical path as that would only lead to disappointing people. I can assure the Senator, from our point of view, that this is a high priority. We want to facilitate this successful school. We want to complete these processes as quickly as possible but we have to do them in a way that meets the requirements and expectations of pupils for the long term, and that is a very important consideration. I appreciate the points made by the Senator. In so far as I can, I will provide him with answers to the queries he raised, but some of them remain in a realm where definitive answers cannot be entirely laid out at this point.