Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

In 2005, my Department allocated funding of €300 million for a public private partnership programme comprising 23 new post-primary and four new primary schools. The provision of the proposed new secondary school in Skibbereen was included in that announcement. As a site for the school was secured in 2009, it had not been possible to include this project in any of the bundles already being procured. As part of the jobs initiative recently announced by the Minister, I confirmed that I am developing two further bundles of PPP schools. The provision of the school in Skibbereen will be considered in this context.

The issues to be considered in the timing and bundling of schools include, site availability for each school, geographical spread and total cost of the proposed school bundle. The timescale for the provision of the school is approximately four years from the time the bundle is announced.

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