According to Labour's Cllr Keith Martin there is still no progress on the new building for Westport's Gaelscoil. The new school was given the go ahead in 2006 and a site was acquired from Westport Town Council shortly after, with a delivery date of June 2007 promised by the Department of Education.
As late as September 2008 the Department of Education said it was at "an advanced stage of architectural planning. Planning permission has been obtained and pre-qualification of prospective contractors has been completed. It is hoped to progress this project to tender and construction process as soon as possible."
However when questioned this week by Labour's Education Spokesman Ruairi Quinn TD, Minister Batt O'Keeffe was unable to give a timeframe for the project.
According to the Minister the new building "is currently one of a number of projects at an advanced stage of architectural planning. It was not; however, included in the most recent tranche of projects announced in September as, due to normal budgetary constraints and the need to manage the capital programme in an orderly fashion, not all building projects can proceed to tender and construction at the same time.
"The progression of all large scale building projects, including this project, from initial design stage through to construction phase will be considered in the context of my Department's multi-annual School Building and Modernisation Programme. However, in light of current competing demands on the capital budget of the Department, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of the project at this time."
Cllr Martin says "It looks like the Department is not interested in keeping its commitments in relation to the badly needed new building for our Gaelscoil. We must not falter in our demands that the promised new school is delivered on immediately."
"The progression of all large scale building projects, including this project, from initial design stage through to construction phase will be considered in the context of my Department's multi-annual School Building and Modernisation Programme. However, in light of current competing demands on the capital budget of the Department, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of the project at this time."
Cllr Martin says "It looks like the Department is not interested in keeping its commitments in relation to the badly needed new building for our Gaelscoil. We must not falter in our demands that the promised new school is delivered on immediately."
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