This is the second occasion this year on which I have had to ask the permission of the Ceann Comhairle for time to raise the delays occurring in progressing the building project for St. Anne's national school in Shankill, County Dublin. I raised the matter previously on 14 February and it appeared in the Official Report of that date. In his reply on that occasion, the Minister for Finance told me that "the project will continue to the preparation of tender documents and the invitation of tenders as soon as possible under the expanded building programme". He went on to say that the Department was fully committed to the provision of additional accommodation for St. Anne's school.
The school is seeking two additional classrooms, a staff room, a library, a computer room, essential rewiring, fire protection works and the installation of a new boiler, as well as some outdoor works associated with car parking and a playground.
After I raised the issue on the Adjournment on 14 February, the school management met the then Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Woods, on 19 February. According to a letter which I have received from the school management, Deputy Woods told them "I look forward personally to turning the first sod by the end of the year." On 14 March, my constituency colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Hanafin, for whom I have a very high regard, personally attended the school. She brought the good news that the Minister had sanctioned the school building project. I must confess I thought she was a bit like Neville Chamberlain coming back from Munich, waving around the Minister's letter of sanction. It was a case of "sanction in our time". In any event, she was given several rounds of bualadh bos by the assembled gathering in the school hall and went on to be handsomely rewarded electorally in the subsequent general election. Unfortunately, however, the election changed the fortunes of the school because afterwards matters went distinctly cold in the building unit of the Department of Education and Science.