Coosan school building project
Senator McFadden seeks clarification of school-building priorities and asks that Coosan National School’s long-delayed project proceed after completing an earlier stage.
I am deeply concerned about the process through which school building projects are progressed through construction and the order in which they appear on the final list. Will the Leader invite the Minister for Education and Skills, or a representative on his behalf, to outline the procedures involved to the House? The new school building project at Coosan national school in Athlone is close to my heart, as it was for my late sister Nicky McFadden. For more than 16 years we worked to have it included in the new school construction list. It was approved, completed stage 2B and was to proceed to construction in 2016. We have been informed that 66 buildings will proceed to construction this year, but our school is not one of them. There is a school in my locality which came on-line only two years ago, after Coosan national school, and where construction will start next week. While I welcome the development, there is an unfairness in the process. I would like to see some transparency in the process to understand how and why some projects are jumped up the list. Up to 65% of the pupils in Coosan national school are in prefabs. Vital work is required on the existing school building over the summer which will not be cost effective if the project is to come on-line in 2017. Will the Minister for Education and Skills explain to the House how one school which has been in the process for 16 years can suddenly be dropped, while the project at another school which has only been involved in the process for two years can suddenly proceed to construction?