Speaking after the announcement from the Dutch Infrastructural Fund (DIF) was made Teachta Brady said “I cautiously welcome the news that a new contractor has been appointed to complete the work on Coláiste Raithin and Ravenswell schools in Bray. It is anticipated that the contractor will be mobilised in the coming days and will be on site in the coming weeks. Work on the schools is expected to be completed by the end of August.”
“With so many completion dates coming and going, the Minister for Education Richard Bruton must now give solid assurances that this time frame will be met and that the State will step in immediately to ensure that this is the case.”
Teachta Brady continued “Furthermore the Minister must ensure that the many sub contractors directly affected by the collapse of Carillion and Sammon must be protected and that the money they are owed is forthcoming. I’m aware that a sizable number of local contractors are owed sizable sums of money and now find themselves in difficulties as a result of this mess.”
“There needs to be a full review of the use of Public Private Partnerships (PPP’s), particularly for critical infrastructural projects such as schools. Capital projects such as these should be funded directly by Government; it’s a crazy situation when you have the Dutch Infrastructural Fund and the Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi controlling if and when our children get into their new schools.
Teachta Brady concluded “Finally I want to commend all the pupils, teachers and parents for keeping the pressure on to ensure that progress was made in completing the schools, I’ve no doubt that without it, it would have dragged on considerably longer. Myself and I’m sure the schools will keep that pressure on to ensure that this time-frame is adhered to and that they can finally get into their fantastic new schools in September.”
No comments:
Post a Comment