Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Senator Carrigy clearly has a close, direct understanding of this particular school as he is on the school board and one of his children is attending the school. He understands what is involved. He is telling me that the school applied three years ago for its expansion, and that it is waiting for the Department to approve the stage 1 architectural plans. He cannot see why the project is taking longer than other schools to complete. What the Department says is that its prioritisation is directly related to how much pressure that school is under for additional school places. This is to obtain the objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Foley what she can do to advance this project and why it is taking so long to be at such an early stage.

I take representations from parents in schools and understand that sometimes you really work for a school project to happen, and by the time it has gone through the system and has been constructed, your child has actually progressed through the school and is never going to get the benefit from it. It is incredibly frustrating. I will go back to the Minister and ask what she can do on this particular project.