Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Creed, has great knowledge of Kinsale and his father covered that area for many years. His knowledge of Kinsale is very appropriate to this matter. I am looking for movement on the Gaelscoil in Kinsale, which was established in 2007. It first got approval for a permanent structure in 2015 and, since then, it has been sitting in limbo. We have a site and we are trying to get the conveyancing sorted for the site. My office in Kinsale has been in contact with both the Chief State Solicitor's office and the Department of Education and Skills every month for the last year, trying to get movement on the conveyancing of the site. Since October 2018, it has sat in the Chief State Solicitor's office and we have been trying to get contracts out of that office since that time.

There is deep frustration in Kinsale on this issue. The Gaelscoil is a thriving school in a thriving town that just needs a little help to move forward. We have the site and we need to move forward with regard to the ownership of that site so we can move from stage 1 of the project list all the way to stage 5 in the next few years. There was an original commitment that construction would begin on this site in 2018 and we are now lagging behind because we do not have ownership of the site. In many ways, this is about making sure we can transfer the land over to the Department and then move forward with the next phases of the project.

It is a very important project for Kinsale. I want to bring to the Minister's attention that over €1 million has been spent on prefabs since 2007 and, in many ways, it is money wasted. Every day that we delay, more money is being spent on temporary prefabs, which do not suit the needs of the students. One of these prefabs had to be stood down last year because of its condition, with rain literally pouring through it. This is a significant issue for Kinsale, a thriving town that has seen its population increase by 22% in the last decade. We need to move forward with the educational campus, in particular the Gaelscoil. I hope the Department can put pressure on the Chief State Solicitor's office to sort out the conveyancing issues and get the site transferred over, so we can go through the phases to deliver this site and, in turn, deliver the school for Kinsale.