Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is more than welcome. It is great to see him here to discuss this issue. Laragh National School is a thriving school in west Cork. It was founded in 1967 and I would say at that time there were two teachers and 29 students. It has mushroomed into a really thriving school with seven teachers and more than 193 pupils. The principal’s name is John Lordan. The issue is the emergency works application that has been made. The application is for the pedestrian entrance, which also incorporates the emergency vehicle entrance to the lower part of the school. Significant works have been done to the surroundings of this school in the last 12 months. We have had engagements with Cork County Council to come on site. It did major works on footpaths, ramps and lining. It did a fantastic job of the outside area of the school. The council did that on the back of a really good report brought forward by the board of management. The board has been really proactive here. It brought consultants on board and got a safety audit. It has really worked with all the entities it possibly could to ensure the outside of the school has been made safe. However, the board is very disappointed because the first application it made for funding for safety works outside the school was rejected as it was a Cork County Council issue. That is what the board was told. It worked with the council then to ensure those works could be done and even paid a 10% contribution to the local authority to have them done. The only thing missing now is the vehicle access and pedestrian access at the lower side of that site, which is in the ownership of the school or the Department, depending on where you want to go. An emergency works application has now been made to make that safe. At the moment all the students are coming out one entrance, which is chaotic at times. It is well managed by the school, which has broken up school times and worked to ensure it is safe, but we must ensure this lower entrance is reopened and that the safety issue regarding vehicle access can be sorted. However, the application has been rejected.

The responses I have got for this have been somewhat chaotic. I will give an example. Last Friday I got an indication from the Department it had been refused. On Monday, 23 September I got a communiqué from the Minister saying it was still under review. Now I am under the impression it has been refused again, so I am not exactly sure where we are going with this application. What I do know is the Department has effectively washed its hands of this issue. We cannot have a school paying 10% of the works on the road to the local authority and then say it needs to do all the works inside the property. This is really important because these are safety works. It is the final piece of the jigsaw. This is a very proactive school with a very proactive principal and a board of management that has done such diligent work. They are frustrated. The problem we have is that this is a desktop study. The application is made online and nobody comes to meet the principal and chair of the board of management. I have met the principal and the chairperson on site to talk about these issues. At the very least the Department needs to negotiate and have conversations with the people who are trying to ensure this place is safe. I appeal for us to get movement here. We need to get answers to where this application is. Then we can get a pathway to delivering this final piece of the jigsaw and have safe access for the kids going to Laragh National School.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for the Commencement matter. I pay tribute to his ongoing advocacy for his area. I have often heard him speak about his home county and home area and he is committed to working with all stakeholders there on this issue, as well as many others.

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. Laragh National School is the school we are focusing on. I credit the work of the board of management and the others the Senator mentioned who have really made efforts here.I do not think I have good news for the Senator but I might have some clarity which may assist in moving the matter onwards. The Senator asked for an update on the application. There is no live application at the moment. I will explain how that came to be. The scheme that has been referred to is the emergency works scheme, the purpose of which is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies or to provide funding to facilitate inclusion and access for pupils with special needs. An emergency is deemed to be a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, that is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action, and, in the case of a school, if not corrected, would prevent the school or part thereof from opening. Delivery of this scheme is managed on a devolved basis by the relevant school authority. The scheme is very particular and a school must require emergency works that fit certain narrow criteria, as I have outlined. As part of the application for that scheme and as part of the digital strategy, the application for emergency works are made online through a portal called Esinet. The Senator mentioned a desktop review. This is an online procedure that seems to be more efficient and faster in responding than other traditional procedures.

There are no live emergency works applications from the school at present. I will explain. An application was made and the most recent application from the school sought emergency works scheme funding for the completion of works to access routes that had been affected by road safety works conducted by the relevant local authority. I presume it is Cork County Council in this instance. The purpose of the scheme is to provide funding for emergency situations, but one of the criteria is that an emergency must be something that is sudden and unforeseen. It is the view of the Department that the works conducted by the local authority were not unforeseen and actually were planned. The works were the opposite in that they were very foreseeable. The works should have afforded consideration of the access routes as part of the project brief. If there are negative consequences, albeit unintended, arising for the school, they should be addressed to the local authority first and foremost as the agency that performed the works in the area that has led to this issue. It really goes back to the local authority rather than the Department to see whether it can remedy it or at least engage on it.

It is seen that the emergency works scheme providing additional funding to remedy this situation would not be an appropriate or correct use of that scheme in this instance. Due to that set of circumstances, the application was refused and that is why it is no longer live. An appeal was made on that. The school appealed the decision but the additional information provided still supports the view that the works were conducted by the local authority to address road safety concerns, which is welcome indeed, but it actually created or contributed to the current issues and, therefore, the issue that arises is the creation of the local authority. It is something that would have been foreseeable. One might say that perhaps better planning or foresight might have mitigated that in the first instance through the local authority, but it is not an issue that is suitable for the emergency works scheme or for the Department of Education to come to the rescue on. That being the case, the decision was upheld. It may not be good news for the Senator but it is news and it is clarity, I hope.

Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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I have the deepest respect for the Minister of State and I know him a long time, but that answer just beggars belief. We are dealing with a scenario where the local authority has come on board to make sure the outside of the school is made safe by putting in footpaths, lines and a new road, and now the Department will not come halfway to meet the actual people. It is the second time Department of Education has washed its hands of the safety issues here. The local authority came on board and there was even a contribution given by the community to make sure it came on board. Now, because of that, we have minor works that need to be done which are a safety issue. The pedestrian access on the lower side of the school has been closed. We have no vehicle access for, God forbid, an emergency there.

The Department does not believe that is part of its remit. I do not understand why the Department will not engage in a face-to-face location outside the school gate. It needs to be seen to be believed. The Department does not see it because it is looking at an application made through a portal. Will the Minister of State, for whom I have the deepest respect, ask the Minister's Department to physically meet the board of management and the principal? It will then understand the issue. A blind man could see the issue when it is actually seen on the ground.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I hear what the Senator has said. I will relay that back to the Minister and to the office. The information I have been given is that the local authority performed works which, as a consequence, created or contributed to this issue. It therefore falls back to the local authority to address that. I hear, however, what the Senator is saying. Is it a safe routes to school scheme?

Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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No.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Perhaps the Senator might consider engagement with my own Department of Transport on the safe routes to school programme. There might be another way to progress the matter there. The Senator should continue to engage, which I am sure he will, with Cork County Council and with the Department of Education. If he would like to talk to me separately about the Department of Transport scheme, perhaps there might be an opening there.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Lawless, for coming to the House today. I congratulate him again on his appointment because I know it is his first time here in the House in that role.