The new Berkeley Institute does have a list of ?deficiencies?, Finance Minister Paula Cox admitted to Parliament last night.

She told the House of the Assembly that the $125 million senior school ? now running three years late and $50 million over budget ? had always had a deficiency list but added: ?All deficiencies are being and will continue to be addressed. There will be no compromise on the issue of safety. That will not be tolerated.

?What is immutable is the fact that there is a problem and it?s going to be addressed.?

Ms Cox?s comments come less than a fortnight after whistleblower Gabriel Martel dubbed the school a ?death trap? because of safety concerns.

The construction expert, who carried out an inspection for site manager Somers Construction in January, claimed students risked electrocution because of faulty wiring while poorly constructed walls could come crashing down.

During yesterday?s Works and Engineering debate, Opposition Leader Wayne Furbert challenged the Government to allow him to inspect the school this morning ? with the media there to photograph the evidence.

He said he understood there were 1,200 deficiencies at the Berkeley site and was himself in possession of photographs showing areas of concern.

?Was there a report produced by this guy (Martel)?? he asked. ?And if there was a report can they lay the report before Parliament so we can get some understanding of what these deficiencies are?

?We want to make sure the place is safe. I?m sure the Government of the day, the Ministers, want to make sure the place is safe. If the honourable members will allow me time to visit Berkeley with my pictures I?ll be glad to go over there with the media with me.

?I?ll be glad to visit early tomorrow morning.?

His request did not receive a response from Ms Cox. Earlier, the Finance Minister had said a ?punch list? of problems at the school was being worked on.

She said that with the exception of the gym the school was now ?substantially completed? and had been handed over to the Ministry of Education.

?Bermuda now has a school facility that is second to none anywhere in the world,? she added.

Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Jon Brunson said Berkeley had been ?under controversy ad nauseum since it started? and was a ?total disaster?.

He said fundamental questions needed to be asked about the management of the project such as when it would be completed and did the Government stand by the quality of the work carried out there.

?I don?t think these guys would intentionally endanger our children,? he said, motioning to the PLP side of the house. ?That?s not what this is about. What this is about is accountability and what this is about is it?s about a government who has had a proven track record of mis-targets, wrong information, scandal, disappointment.?

He said Mr. Martel?s report on Berkeley identified concerns that could put children?s safety at risk at Berkeley. To cries from the other side of the House that Mr. Martel was a disgruntled employee, he retorted: ?His findings and reports were submitted well before his termination. What are his motives? At that point, he wasn?t a disgruntled employee.

?If there has been an audit and if there is a punch list, present it to the floor of the house.?

Mr. Brunson accused Premier Alex Scott of misleading the country when he was the Minister in charge of the project ? a charge Mr. Scott vehemently denied.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Maxwell Burgess later suggested the Government should have stepped down over the Berkeley debacle. He said he believed the school would become a ?model of bad planning? and could earn Bermuda a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the bad management of the project.

PLP backbencher Renee Webb later appeared to blame the Berkeley overspend ? and other capital projects which have gone over budget ? on civil servants in the Ministry of Works and Engineering.

She said: ?It?s not acceptable for a budget to more than double what it was supposed to be. Somebody needs to tell this country why things are always coming in late and over budget.

?If nobody has had that talk with their civil servants, they need to have it.

?This is people?s hard-earned money that we are spending. People need to be accountable or they need to be got rid of. They are spending taxpayers? money and they are paid high salaries. People are too lackadaisical. People are not being held accountable ? they are just spending, spending, spending.?