Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raised this Commencement debate last April and I got an interesting response regarding the tender process. There is a real slip in the timelines outlined. Last April, I was told that it would take six to eight months for the tender process to happen. Today, I am told it will take eight to 12 months. For some reason, the timeline for the tender process has slipped in comparison with what was outlined in the Commencement debate on this matter 12 months ago. At that time, I was also informed that it would take 20 months for the construction process. This has now slipped to 22 months. That is the core issue.We started this project in 2018. Kids who went to that school on their first day will not see the new school finished because of the timelines. When you have slippages, months become years and years become people's lives when they are waiting for a new school to be delivered on the ground. We need the Department to issue the tender papers, to approve the tender and get the letter of acceptance out to the contractors. The way the market is going at the moment, prices will only go one way. The longer we wait, the higher it gets. I estimate that, from where we were in 2018 when this was mooted, the cost of this school has probably doubled. That is a significant issue. Timelines are killing us with projects like this. I appreciate that we have had huge investment, but we cannot have the slippages we have seen. The Minister might come back and let me know when the letter of intent will be issued from the Department so that we can get boots on the ground.