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

The project raised by the Deputy was authorised to proceed to tender in October 2016. This project is the second phase of accommodation for the school in question and will cater for an additional 650 pupils. Phase 2 of the project will also provide a special needs unit, a sports hall with a fitness suite and changing facilities and ancillary accommodation, including a school library. Once this phase is completed it will bring the capacity of the school up to 1,000 pupils.

An incomplete stage 2(b) submission from the design team was received in my Department in July 2016, leading to a request for further information. A fully compliant stage 2(b) submission was received in September 2016. The stage 2(b) submission was approved and the project was approved to proceed to tender in October. However, as the pre-qualification of contractors had first been conducted by the design team in April 2015, the design team, concerned about the possibility of legal challenges, asked the Office of Government Procurement for advice on this matter. The advice was that it would be prudent to run the pre-qualification again.

The design team has recently rerun the pre-qualification of suitable contractors and is finalising a shortlist of up to ten contractors who will be requested to tender for the project. Subject to no issues arising, it is anticipated that construction will commence in the summer of 2017 and the project is scheduled to take approximately 18 months to complete.

See this speech in context