James Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton, to the House and indeed congratulate him on his re-appointment. I thank him for taking the time to address this matter, which is of grave concern to the students, parents, teachers and the wider community of Lusk. The population of Lusk was approximately 500 to 700 when I first started in practice back in 1983. It was 7,000 in 2011, it is now 10,000 according to the last census of 2016, and it is due to grow further to 12,500 in the coming years.

There are, as the Minister knows, active building sites all around Lusk. Some of them involve the provision of new school and educational facilities and they are very welcome. We have very good bus and rail links and we are very near Dublin city, Dublin Airport and Swords. Lusk is an attractive place in which to live and start a home and a young family. The demand, therefore, for all school facilities in Lusk will continue to grow. Rush and Lusk Educate Together national school currently has 420 pupils. Lusk national school has 850 pupils on its books and is growing. The Round Towers GAA club has 600 members. The soccer club, with 19 teams, has 325 playing members and rising. We also have our athletics club, judo club, and many other clubs.

As a Fine Gael Senator and local Lusk GP I am very proud to see three cranes on the skyline of Lusk building new primary schools and a new all-purpose PE hall, supported and implemented efficiently by the Minister's Department. It surprises me and many others, therefore, that the same project group cannot seem to implement in a timely manner the building of the promised new facilities for Lusk Community College. This involves a new build extension to cater for: an additional 650 pupils; a special needs unit; a physical education unit; a hall with a fitness suite and changing facilities; and ancillary accommodation, including a school library.There have been multiple promises of start dates, tenders, etc. I was delighted, as a Minister, when construction of phase 1 commenced in 2011 and completed on time in 2013, with phase 2 due to complete in 2014. Everybody is surprised to learn that planning was not obtained until 2016. We were given to understand that tenders would be awarded and construction would commence this summer but clearly that is not now going to happen because the tenders are not due in until July this year.

The community is frustrated and annoyed. People are losing faith. I know from the meeting last Tuesday night, which was well attended, that several parents of children currently attending the school are considering sending younger children elsewhere because of the overcrowding, where children are required to eat lunch in their classrooms and the hall, which should be used for other functions, is now being used for teaching. The parents cannot understand why this project is not proceeding.

I understand that the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, has been in communication with my office regarding a meeting I requested with him and his officials on behalf of the parents' group at Lusk Community College. I would like the Minister to confirm today that he will meet with the parents' group from Lusk Community College so that they can explain their case directly to him and his officials.

Naturally, everybody is anxious to move this project forward and parents do not want any more delays. The Minister will understand that many children commenced their education in this school in the belief that they would be able to complete their education there but because the school will not now be completed until, at the earliest, 2019 this may not be the case for many children. There is a very strong community and committee involved, including Mr. Gabriel Kelly, Ms Caroline O'Malley, Mr. Josephine Lara, Mr. Michael Lenihan, Mr. Paul McNally and Ms Tricia Lynch.

I would like to read into the record an email I received from a parent, Mr. Liam Cassidy, in Lusk:

Following a meeting with local political representatives on Tuesday the 13th, I am writing to you to express my personal disappointment regarding the further delays in the completion of Lusk Community College. We have now been given a best case completion date of the end of 2019. To say that this is appalling is an understatement. In its current state, the school is not fit for purpose and is already overcrowded, without even having the fully secondary cycle of children in attendance yet. Imagine there is no PE hall, no library, no designated lunch areas. Students are being facilitated in portacabins as there are not enough classrooms. That might be okay when you were six or seven in primary school but not for growing teenage girls and boys. Wouldn't fancy it, would you?

As the Leas-Chathaoirleach is indicating that my time has expired, I will not read the remainder of the email.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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The area about which the Senator is speaking is beautiful countryside.

James Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I ask the Minister to do everything he can to remedy this situation given the impact it is having on the community. This school was once a start-of-the-art facility with a great reputation but people are now starting to walk away from it. This is the last thing we need when North County Dublin is bursting at the seams in terms of the number of children applying for school places from areas such as Rush, Lusk, Skerries, Balbriggan and Swords. As a resident of Lusk, we do not want to have to send our secondary school children outside of their village, away from their friends and community, to complete their secondary school education. This is having a detrimental effect on the community, families and local clubs which are critical to any community.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Reilly for raising this matter, which is about the second phase of accommodation for Lusk. As stated by Senator Reilly, the first phase was completed some years ago. This project will provide permanent accommodation to cater for the full projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils, including a special needs unit, a sports hall with a fitness suite and changing facilities and ancillary accommodation, and a school library.

The project is included in the six-year programme announced by my predecessor on 17 November 2015 to go to tender, with construction scheduled to commence in 2018. Notwithstanding that scheduled construction date, my Department approved the project to proceed to tender stage in October 2016, with the intention of completing the much-needed phase 2 accommodation as early as possible. The pre-qualification of contractors for this project had first been conducted by the design team in April 2015. Owing to the passage of time since then, the design team was concerned about the possibility of legal challenges at tender stage and sought advice from the Office of Government Procurement on the matter.The advice was that it would be prudent to run the pre-qualification process again. My Department concurred with this advice and requested the design team to conduct a second pre-qualification process.

The Senator is correct in pointing out that I informed the Dáil on 18 January that "Subject to no issues arising, it is anticipated that construction will commence in the summer of 2017 and the project is scheduled to take approximately 18 months to complete." That was, however, based on the advice of my officials at the time and was, in turn, based on the information available on that date. Issues did subsequently arise in the pre-qualification process but these have now been resolved. I am pleased to inform the Senator that the pre-qualification process was concluded earlier this month and invitations to tender issued to six qualified contractors on 9 June 2017. Subject to no further issues arising, it is anticipated that construction will commence in late 2017 and the project is, as previously advised, expected to take approximately 18 months to complete.

I can fully understand the frustration of parents but I am aware, from experience, that if prudent steps are not taken to ensure the supply chain is properly tested before one commits, then projects can go off the rails. The prudence of the design team in taking these steps has prevented this project from being challenged further down the road. A prudent approach was taken and I understand the frustration people experience when they see the potential opening date being pushed back as a result of this approach. However, we must work on the best legal advice available to us. If the Office of Government Procurement is indicating that this is the approach to take, then it is the correct approach.

I am open, of course, to meeting the Senator. Other public representatives, including Deputy Farrell, have contacted me about the possibility of meeting. If Deputies and Senators want such a meeting, I am happy to agree to that. The project still must go through the process and tenders are now being invited. I will not be influencing the selection of tenders or any of that. It must be done in a wholly professional way by the Department. I am content that although there was an interruption, which was unfortunate to the progress of the project from when we first sought to move it faster, I believe this difficulty has been overcome and that the project is back on track from our point of view.

James Reilly (Fine Gael)
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It is my understanding that the website of the Department of Education and Skills originally said the project was to finish - or at least commence - in 2014. I stand open to correction on that. It is important that the Minister meets the parents of the children in the school. It is more important than meeting all of us public representatives, although we would all be very keen to be there also. There was a number of public representatives at the meeting last Tuesday night. We all undertook to write to the Minister to again seek a meeting. I appreciate his response to this request and the positive way in which he has stated it. It is critical that there are no further delays. Everybody accepts that we are where we are. People would like an explanation as to why we are where we are and I believe they do not feel they have had that explanation yet.

I shall conclude by reading the two last paragraphs of the letter I read out earlier:

As a parent of four young children, two already in primary cycle, I now have the worry of whether the school will be able to take my children in when their time comes or will I have to send them to a different school outside of our community. It would be a crying shame if I had to do that.

Our secondary school must be finished as soon as possible. It is already nearly three years late being competed. I understand why projects like this might run to some delay but at this stage there are no words for a delay of this length.

The end of 2019 is just not good enough but we understand that we are where we are. I again appeal to the Minister to ensure that there will be no further delays. The parents would appreciate an fact-to-face meeting with the Minister to allay their fears that there will not be further delays and that further damage to the school's reputation will not occur. There is an excellent ethos in the school. It has excellent teachers - many of whom I met the other night - who are really committed to the school and excited by the possibility of this new growing community that has sprung out of a very ancient village that has been in existence since the fifth century.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I will check the history of this. I can only go back to November 2015 when this was announced as being on a building programme. The Department has moved that ahead of the schedule that was then set out.

No Senator knows better than Senator Reilly the difficulties we went through between 2010 and 2014 which was the planning date initially hoped for. No doubt one of the reasons for the delay had to do with the economic crisis that prevailed in those times when schedules were disrupted. I will check that history. It is on a clear schedule. Not only does the Department treat it as a priority, but by its action in bringing it forward ahead of its original schedule, it shows an appreciation of the difficulties for the school and for parents.

Of course I am happy to meet and reassure parents but I am also sure the Department will facilitate the school in temporary accommodation should that be necessary given the pressure on the school in the short term. I will do my very best to keep this on track but I do not directly control difficulties with tenders and construction. They arise from sources I cannot always identify in advance. I thank the Senator for raising the issue.