Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)

I invite the Minister for Education and Youth, Helen McEntee, to the House to get an update on the proposed construction of the Louth and Meath Education and Training Board headquarters in Drogheda, County Louth, and the timeline for its completion. The decision to have a State body headquartered in the town was first floated more than ten years ago. It was seen as a huge vote of confidence, with the largest town in Ireland being chosen over neighbouring Navan and Dundalk. However, three years have passed since new plans were revealed in 2022 for the cutting-edge headquarters for the ETB, which will be situated in the St. Oliver's Community College campus on the Rathmullan Road in Drogheda. Confirmation that the new building is definitely to go ahead at the Drogheda location was given at an announcement in 2022 of a multimillion euro investment at Drogheda Institute of Further Education. This made for a double vote of confidence in Drogheda's future. However, no timeline has since been made available for the construction of the building. More than €300,000 has already been spent on feasibility studies and consultation fees in the past decade.

The last update stated that the new facility was awaiting departmental approval before proceeding to the planning stage. However, my fear is that it has dropped off a priority list. I recently met the Drogheda city status group, which wrote to LMETB in December 2020 to raise concerns about the delay in building the headquarters in Drogheda, as prescribed under the Education and Training Boards Act 2013. The building work had commenced in 2017, with the contractors on site, but it was quickly halted. All other headquarters prescribed in the legislation had already been delivered at that stage, with LMETB being the exception. The group met the CEO in July 2021. He gave his assurance that the building would recommence in December 2021.

To sum up, it has been 12 years since the legislation was introduced to require the LMETB headquarters to be based in Drogheda. It has been eight years since the work was originally commenced and abandoned. The Department devolved the delivery of the project to LMETB. However, since this has not happened in the 12 years since the legislation was enacted, it would seem that the best course of action may be for the Department to take back responsibility for the project, which is ultimately its legal duty to deliver.

Not only is the delivery of this building enshrined in legislation, but the Minister is no doubt very aware that the presence of the HQ would be hugely beneficial for the community. I ask that the Minister give her assurance that this matter is progressing without any further delays and to provide a timeframe for its completion.