Earlier this week, Gaelscoil Riada and Coláiste an Eachréidh received the great news that they have been issued with a letter of intent to go to construction, which is huge news for them. Déanaim comhghairdeas leo. Tá mé an-sásta dóibh. However, this was met with dismay by other schools, such as Carrabane National School just outside Loughrea, which has been waiting a long time – over 20 years – to get to construction phase. Four months ago, the announcement was made that it was sanctioned to go to stage 3 which, in my opinion, should be the green light to see diggers on the ground and construction commenced. This is a 20-year saga. The school is in a dangerous condition and teachers are teaching in dangerous conditions. Students are not in fit-for-purpose classrooms. This needs to be sped up urgently.

The process already collapsed once many years ago and the school was sent back to square one. The builder at the time pulled out. The school is now faced with going back to square one again after having gone through the entire process a second time up to stage 3. We do not need to see a third round of going back to square one for Carrabane National School. I am asking the Deputy Leader to talk to the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and ask her to directly intervene with the buildings unit in Tullamore of the Department of education. This is genuinely urgent because the builder is about to pull out for a second time. We do not need to see Carrabane National School losing out for a second time.