asked the Minister for Education (a) the date on which the present vocational school at Westport, County Mayo was completed, (b) the name and address of the firm of contractors who erected it, (c) if a new vocational school is being erected at Westport, and (d) the reason for erecting a new school at this stage.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Westport Vocational School.
69.
The present vocational school building at Westport was completed in 1934. The building contractor was Mr. P.J. Kelly, Westport. The County Mayo Vocational Education Committee propose to erect a new building to replace the building referred to and I have given approval to that proposal. The planning of the new building has not yet been completed.
The reason for the Committee's decision to erect a new school building is that the existing building has become structurally unsafe and, in the opinion of the Committee's architect and of the Department's Building Inspector, is not capable of being made sound at any cost. According to the expert advice which the Committee received from their architect and from a firm of consulting engineers who examined the building, the defects which have appeared are attributable to a general differential settlement of portion of the building, for which it is not possible to ascribe any single cause. Factors which might have contributed are (i) shrinkage of the sub-soil (ii) additional weight imposed on the surrounding ground by the erection of a heavy reinforced concrete building at the rere (iii) movement of water in the sub-soil under the foundations (iv) lack of uniformity in the bearing capacity of the ground water under the foundations.