Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. This is an example of why schools are so frustrated with the workings of the Department of Education. The school in question applied for this a year ago. An emergency is deemed to be "a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, that happens in sudden, unforeseen circumstances and requires immediate action". I am saying that the presence of buckets in the busiest thoroughfare of the school for the past two years represents a risk to health and safety and that if the ongoing leak is not fixed and there is an issue with the roof, it will give rise to an emergency situation and the school will most likely have to shut down.

It is a year since the school submitted its application. The response is to go back to the original design team, the consultant and the contractor. Why did it take so long for the response to be given? It is just not practical to do as has been suggested. The emergency has to be dealt with. The school has most likely gone back to the contractor already to try to get the leak fixed. We need a twin-track approach here and a bit of common sense on the part of Department when it comes to dealing with an emergency situation that needs to be rectified as soon as possible.