asked the Minister for Education (a) the present position with regard to the building of the community school at Balally, Dundrum, County Dublin; (b) if he will receive a deputation of residents of the Balally district in connection with this matter; and (c) if he will give an assurance that the passage of construction traffic to the site will be routed in such a way as not to be a nuisance or a danger to other local residents or their children.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Dublin Community School
20.
Negotiation are proceeding with the vendors regarding the purchase by my Department of additional land which is required to enable the new community school at Balally, County Dublin to be built. When these negotiations have concluded arrangements can be made for the reception of a deputation of residents of the Balally district.
In the matter of the problem of access to the site, every effort will be made to ensure that the passage of construction traffic to the site will not be a nuisance or a danger to other local residents or their children.
Is the Minister aware that there is a state of mind approaching panic among the people who live in the area which this school would serve as time goes marching on—I realise the Minister has not been there very long—and the school still is not appearing? Is he aware also that the child population in the primary school has grown from 200 in 1965 to nearly 1,500 today? What would he advise local representatives to tell the people who are in this quite justified state of panic about where to send their children who live on a road where there is no other school between Enniskerry and Dublin.
The answer to the Deputy is that I am fully aware. I had a deputation from Deputy Andrews, Councillors Hickey and Murphy——
(Interruptions.)
Get that on the record; it does not matter what the reply is.
They brought maps with them——
That is shabby.
——and they pointed out the residential areas to which the Deputy referred. They also pointed where there was access to the site. I want to say to Deputy Kelly, who is not sniping but who is sincere in his question——
Very shabby.
——that a site was purchased for the school. It was discovered that a large water main was running through a section of that site and this discovery meant that extra space had to be purchased which delayed getting the school under way. Negotiations are proceeding for the acquisition of that site. As somebody said earlier at Question Time, that kind of site is very expensive. There has not been final acceptance of my Department's offer for the site but we are pushing ahead as fast as we can to get the additional accommodation and get going on the school.
I just want to ask the Minister two more questions. Is the Minister saying—I do not want to trap him into something which will embarrass him—that the obstacle lies in the unwillingness of the vendors to accept what the Department are now offering? That is one question.
The sale has not been finally signed, sealed and delivered. The Deputy may be aware that there are other points that the vendors' architects have to have a look at with regard to this, seeing that they have a construction quite near where the new school will be built.
Deputy Horgan.
I just wanted to finish.
Deputy Kelly said he had another supplementary.
I want to concentrate now on the problem of a small part of this area which is threatened by the possibility of construction traffic. The Minister said he would make sure it was not dangerous or a nuisance. Would he give a positive assurance that construction traffic will not go through the Dun Emer estate but that an alternative access, even if it does cost a few pounds more, will be provided for it?
The deputation that I met showed me on the map where there was a possibility of access, not through the Dun Emer estate but, as I saw the map, from the northern part.
Might I ask the Minister first of all, in relation to what he said about having received a deputation, whether he can explain the fact that I am still awaiting a reply from his Department in an attempt to arrange a similar deputation?
So am I, incidentally.
Could we ask the Minister for an assurance that construction work will begin on the school next spring?
With regard to the first part of the Deputy's supplementary, I am not aware that it is so but I regret very much if the Deputies have not received an answer to such letters because I intend——
I got an acknowledgment but no subsequent answer.
In fact nobody got a fixed date for a deputation. I am crowded out with applications. No doubt, when we do get round to having a full deputation, both Deputies will be on it.
What about a starting date for the school?
I cannot do that and the Deputy knows that well.