asked the Minister for Education when it is proposed to sanction the erection of a primary school at Abbeylands, Navan, County Meath.
5.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Navan School.
4.
asked the Minister for Education if his attention has been drawn to a recent press report (details supplied) stating that the new primary school at Abbeylands, Navan, County Meath has been delayed due to a shortage of money in the Office of Public Works, if he will make a statement on the accuracy of the report and when the building of the school will commence.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together.
My attention has been drawn to the press statement of which details were supplied. Provision for capital expenditure in primary school building is made from Subhead E of Vote 30: Primary Education. Expenditure from this subhead is accounted for by my Department and not by the Office of Public Works.
The contract for the building of a new national school at Abbeylands may be placed only after the necessary preliminary procedures in connection with the examination of tenders and acceptance of a suitable tender have been completed. I am not in a position to state when building work will commence but I anticipate that it will be in the reasonably near future.
I know the Minister passed this information to the party faithful yesterday, but when the necessary documents are ready in the next few months will he guarantee that the money will be made available to build the school?
I can give that guarantee. I am a little lost by what the Deputy means when he refers to "the faithful". I number Deputy Tully among my faithful. We belong to the same model body, the National Parliament.
Would the Minister answer the question I asked him? Will he make the money available this year?
If all the preliminaries have been gone through and it is ready to start building the money will be made available.
Will the Minister outline the preliminaries which have to be gone through? Will he state if any of those require action by him?
No. The normal preliminaries have to be gone through. In this case, as I said in my reply, the time span should not be very long.
What are the preliminaries that have to be gone through? Presumably the Minister is aware of them.
Yes, he is fully aware of them. The first and most important one is to examine the tenders and to accept a suitable tender. As the Deputy knows from experience even in the acceptance of the tender there are certain preliminaries. There are bonds and so on to be got by the builder.
Are all the tenders now in?
I believe they are.
How long does the Minister expect the examination to take?
The normal length of time for such an operation. As I said in my answer there will not be any undue delay. Both Deputy Bruton and Deputy Tully are now satisfied.
(Interruptions.)