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

I thank Deputy Stanley for raising this issue with which he is very familiar. Kolbe special school was originally purpose built in 1984. Time has moved on and its needs have dramatically changed, as Deputy Stanley noted. It has 39 pupils, seven teaching posts and a principle and 16 special needs assistants. It is under the patronage of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary's service. It caters to children with severe to profound general learning difficulties.

A new building has been included in the Department's six year capital programme. It is a 2,265 m2 single story building project to include eight classrooms, a general purpose room, library, resource area, woodwork, art room, exercise therapy room and various ancillary spaces. It is envisaged that the new school will increase the capacity from 39 to 48 pupils. Those schedules of accommodation were developed in consultation with the National Council for Special Education.

The acquisition of a 1.433 ha site from the HSE was completed last year and the project brief is currently being finalised. The next step is to go to the architectural drawing stage.

The project was tentatively in the programme for 2018. I hope my Department will be able to move on to get the project to this next phase. I do not have a specific date as to when that project brief will be finalised. I will seek to find out if any more progress has been made on that. The Department clearly recognises the need for this development for children who have very particular needs.

Money is not the constraint. We are making sure that every penny we get is spent and projects are continually being developed. Each one is developed through all the stages as quickly as possible so that we have a good pipeline of projects for the funds, so it is not a question of it being delayed for financial reasons, it is a project that we are keen to progress with. My Department will try to give a roadmap to the school so that as soon as the project brief is finalised it can anticipate the likely timescales of the different stages. However, one can never predict with absolute accuracy because of issues that might arise with the site or planning, for instance. Nevertheless, my Department will endeavour to push it on as quickly as possible.

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