Quinn urged to intervene as row threatens school opening

EDUCATION Minister Ruairi Quinn has been urged to intervene in a dispute that threatens the opening of a new school in Stranorlar, Co Donegal, for the coming term.

Finn Valley College was set to open next Monday but it was put back another week because of a dispute over payment between the main contractor and an electrical sub-contractor.

Parents now fear that the dispute may not be resolved before the revised date and, with equipment already being moved out from the old school, their children could be left with nowhere to begin the school term.

Continued removal of equipment has been halted in recent days because of insurance problems.

The population has been waiting for 30 years for the new school.

Maggie Gilbert, who is on both the parents’ association and the board of management of the college, said the electrical sub-contractor has to sign off his work “for obvious legal and insurance requirements”. He was refusing to do so until he was paid.

“I have no issue with him as indeed he should be paid in full for all works completed but this means the opening date has already been put back and no guarantee has been given that it will open at all as, without the correct paperwork, it would be illegal.”

Donegal Sinn Féin councillor Cora Harvey, who lives near the new school, called on the minister to intervene.

“The current situation where the electrical sub-contractor has not been paid for work is unacceptable and must be resolved.”

Ms Havey said she had heard from workers who were waiting to be paid by the sub-contractor at the centre of the dispute, “so there’s a whole ripple effect”.

It was “imperative” the sub-contractor be paid for work done and that no other sub-contractor be appointed for the same work.

The Construction Contracts Bill 2010 was ready to be passed into law and she urged the Government to give priority to the bill when the Dáil resumes. The bill would provide protection for sub-contractors.

Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick McGowan, who is also a member or the Vocational Education Committee, said he had been assured by the VEC that “everything is on schedule. No work has stopped.”

He accepted the need for legislation to protect sub-contractors and the Government should introduce it speedily.

But he added: “There is a need to deal with the relationship between contractors and sub-contractors at a national level. But I don’t want it played out at Finn Valley College, and that’s my bottom line.”