Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not like doing this. I acknowledge the Minister of State has been sent in here to do what he was asked to do. I understand the Minister is in the Dáil at the moment and can appreciate that. As for any communications that were made to my office in respect of this debate, I have no knowledge of them because I have not seen them. There is a Minister of State in that Department - who also happens to be a local Deputy - who could be here. I have received a six-sentence reply. The only person who can make this decision is the Minister. The Minister could make his views as to whose side he is on clearly known to the local community, the board of management and the patron body. Just as I mentioned that he did not have anywhere else to hide, he has found somewhere else to hide. This is absolutely ridiculous.

This is not a constituency matter for me. It is on the far side of the county as far as I am concerned. To my mind, it is a matter of national importance in which a patron body decided to sell off land in a school in order that a developer could build on local playing pitches. If the board of management decides to defend the rights of the school, the patron body is going to sack the board. The Minister has a determination to make as to whether he is going to sack the board. He did not come in here and did not send in his Minister of State, who happens to be a local Deputy, and then he sent a six-sentence reply on the situation. We are none the wiser as to what his decision will be.

I genuinely do not think this is good enough. I do not like playing party politics when it comes to issues like this. The matter is extremely important for this individual school and probably every school across the country that has playing pitches. Local communities will be asking if this is what they are going to be up against in a couple of years. They will be wondering if their local boards of management will be sacked too if they have a problem with it. Where is the Minister on this? If I was Minister for Education and Skills or if my party held that Ministry, this would be a very simple decision.