Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cullinane for raising this issue. He is absolutely right that this project has had a very troubled history. I have had discussions with his constituency colleague and my ministerial colleague, Deputy John Halligan, about the situation. The school was selected for inclusion in the Department's prefab replacement scheme in 2012, as Deputy Cullinane said. The approval was for four mainstream classrooms and four ancillary spaces to be delivered by way of a stand-alone structure on the site. The commensurate level of funding for a project of this scale was sanctioned.

The project was devolved for delivery to the board of management, which appointed a consultant to design and deliver the project. This was therefore a devolved project intended to speed up the process but, as the Deputy knows, the difficulties then ensued. A critical role for the school authority in a devolved building project is to ensure both adherence to the scope of the approved work and the cost control for the approved spend. Failure in either area inevitably leads to delays. External matters outside the board of management's control, such as the need to obtain planning permission and all that this may entail, will also impact the timelines for delivery of the project, which is exactly what happened in this case.

While there were issues with adherence to the approved scope of the works, the planning permission process was particularly difficult due to the nature of the site and with traffic management issues on and extraneous to the site. This resulted in at least one request for further information from the local authority to the board of management that the Department is aware of. Overall, this process took much longer than is usual and further difficulties were to ensue in that the planning permission granted was subsequently appealed to an An Bord Pleanála by third parties.

An Bord Pleanála eventually granted planning permission but attached onerous planning conditions to a range of issues including site works, traffic management, pick-up and set-down areas, car parking, etc. The school's proposals to deal with these issues were to be agreed with the local authority before the project could proceed. This involved another piece of significant work for the project. For example, another range of surveys were required to be carried out on the site such as geo-technical surveys, the cost of which were met by the Department. Interactions were also necessary with the local authority to develop and agree the proposals.

When proposals were ultimately agreed with the local authority, the cost estimate for the project almost doubled from the original cost approval. Accordingly, the Department sought details of the proposals in question and spent some time obtaining satisfactory explanations. In the meantime, the school tendered the project, seeking additional funding based on the tenders received. In the absence of satisfactory responses to the cost escalation, the Department was not in a position to approve the funding uplift. That tender process is now out of time under public procurement procedures and is defunct.

Having received satisfactory explanations for the cost overrun in more recent times, the Department is now prepared to allow the project to be retendered and it has informed the school of this in writing, with clear instructions on how to properly complete the process and the junctures at which it must interact with the Department throughout the process to ensure that it runs smoothly.

The matter is now in the hands of the school. The Department is committed to the delivery of the project and strongly urges the board of management to focus its energies and resources on putting the retendering process in train as quickly as possible so that the project can go to site as early as possible in the new year.

In the intervening period, the school may apply for emergency works funding to deal with any access issues it might have at the school, provided this work will not be aborted when the main project is delivered. This is a matter for the board to discuss with its consultant, bearing in mind that the rate and pace of delivery of a large-scale project for the school rests firmly with the board of management.

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