Mr. Hubert Loftus:

In the interest of time, I will just cover the main elements of my statement rather than the full statement.

I thank the committee for the opportunity to discuss our school infrastructure and our plans going forward. I will use the opportunity of the opening statement to provide a high-level overview of our work, which may assist the committee in our discussions today. I have also provided an appendix to my statement dealing with the specific topics raised by the committee.

Planning and delivering on the climate agenda to meet 2030 and 2050 emissions targets will be a strong feature of our work programme, in addition to the specific topics raised by the committee.

The planning and building unit is based in Tullamore. It consists of more than 180 administrative, professional and technical staff. Their roles are to support the planning and delivery of a modern and sustainable infrastructure for the school system, which involves an estate of close to 4,000 schools. We have done a lot of work over the past five years in the context of reviewing and streamlining our systems, processes and procedures in order that we are better positioned to deliver on the ambitions set out in the national development plan, which is the key guide for our work and direction of travel. The strategic initiatives and reforms we have put, and continue to put, in place are focused on enabling us to plan and deliver in a more strategic and co-ordinated manner.

We have a strong track record of delivery. During the period from 2018 to 2022, being the peak period, nearly 900 school building projects were completed. Through Project Ireland 2040, we are investing €4.4 billion over the period from 2021 to 2025, to add capacity and develop and upgrade school facilities throughout the country. We continue to have a strong pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme, involving circa 300 projects at construction stage and in excess of 1,000 at the various stages of appraisal and design. The current status of all projects is listed on the Department's website. This list is updated on a monthly basis as part of our overall communications.

On how the planning and building unit operates, there are two core aspects to our work, namely, planning and delivery. This means that for most schools there are two main contact points when interacting with the planning and building unit. The first of these is generally the school capital appraisal section. This is area led by Ms Cusack. Its role is to assess applications for additional accommodation. Assessing demographic requirements involves using a wide range of data sets and local information to determine what needs to be built where, when and how. The Department has strengthened its planning function significantly by means of the use of a wider range of data sets within its geographic information system, GIS. This better enables projections to be made on demographic requirements for individual school planning areas for the short, medium and longer term. The GIS, which was recently shortlisted for a Civil Service excellence and innovation award, enables all of this information to be displayed on maps and, importantly, includes data on zonings, planned residential developments and residential completions. There is also a strengthened focus on engagement with school patrons.

The second main contact point for schools is the delivery team in the planning and building unit. This team supports the delivery of an approved project from project brief stage through the various stages of architectural planning and, ultimately, to tender, construction and completion. These delivery teams include the additional accommodation scheme team, the major devolved projects team, the design and build team and the modular accommodation team. The bulk of projects are delivered on a devolved basis with professional support provided for schools through design teams. The larger and more complex programmes also involve project management companies to assist with co-ordination and delivery. This includes the area of special needs.

As already indicated, I have included an appendix to my opening statement that sets out the high-level position on each of the specific topics the committee wishes to discuss today. I hope that committee members finds this helpful and that it will assist in dealing with any issues of concern for them. I thank the Chair. We will answer any questions he or the members of the committee may wish to pose.