Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry, but it is unsatisfactory to say that the engagement is ongoing. We have been led to believe that acquisition was imminent. Fingal County Council require a direction from the Minister and his Department to acquire the site. The site has been zoned for ten years so it has been sitting there. The access issues have been resolved. The upgrade of the park road is imminent and should be completed by the end of the second quarter of this year. There is no reason the Minister cannot issue the instruction to acquire the site. It is not good enough for him to come in here and say engagement is "ongoing" and claim there are complex conveyancing reasons. This is completely unacceptable. We have been led to believe by plenty of local representatives that this project is a done deal, there will be a new school and the devil and all will be done. It is clear from the Minister's reply that the acquisition is not imminent. It is an absolute disgrace that children in Rush are on this site without a playing pitch, a library and with inadequate science and woodwork rooms. There is simply a capacity issue. Next year there will not be any room. There is no room for any further prefabs on this site. There will be great anger in Rush when people realise that the Minister is not even on the verge of issuing the instruction to acquire the site.