Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline the position on the building project for St. Matthew's national school in Ballymahon, County Longford, in the context of the Government's overall strategy for capital investment in education projects over the next few years.

Decisions relating to meeting the accommodation needs of schools, including St. Matthew's, over the coming years must be considered in the context of the need for additional school places at both primary and post-primary level. I have previously outlined to the House the scale of the demographic growth in the school-going population which must be catered for under the five year construction programme to 2016 and subsequent years.

To meet this need, the Department must establish new schools as well as extending or replacing a number of existing schools in areas where demographic growth has been identified. The Department's overriding objective in identifying school building projects to progress to tender and construction is to ensure every child has access to a physical school place and that our school system is in a position to cope with increasing pupil numbers. To ensure this is achieved, the delivery of major school projects to meet significant demographic demands nationally will be the main focus for capital investment in schools in the coming years. The five year school building programme that the Minister, Deputy Quinn, announced in March 2012 is focused on meeting those demographic needs.

The school building project for St. Matthew's mixed national school was included in the Department's five year plan and was announced to progress to construction in 2012. The project encountered some delays initially but subsequently progressed to construction in May 2013. After the project began construction, the school authorities sought to change the brief by adding additional classrooms. There is always a considerable contractual risk in seeking to change the brief of a project once construction has begun. Following a review of the long-term requirements for St. Matthew's national school, it was agreed to provide additional accommodation, either by way of change order on the current contract or as a devolved grant. As two classrooms are required in the short term, with a further two likely to be required at a later stage, it was agreed to seek planning permission for four classrooms.

The additional accommodation sought by the school authorities equates to approximately 26% of the overall accommodation being provided. Given the advanced stage of the project on site, the proposal at this late post-contract stage of the project to add accommodation opens up considerable contractual risk and associated cost to both the school and the Department, as the funding authority. In light of this, the more appropriate means of delivering further accommodation at St. Matthew's national school is by way of devolved funding, under a separate contract.

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