Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, who is in the Seanad at present. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it gives me the opportunity to outline to the House the current position regarding the building project to provide improved accommodation for St Finian’s community college in Swords, County Dublin.

As the Deputy is aware, the project to which she refers is a major devolved building project to deliver a critical standalone extension at St. Finian’s community college in Swords, County Dublin.

This extension will be over 4,000 sq. m, and will include a two classroom special educational needs, SEN, base. Responsibility for delivering the project has been devolved to the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board, DDLETB. A service level agreement, SLA, is in place between the Department and Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB in respect of this project. This agreement outlines the roles and responsibilities of each of the parties in the delivery of education projects. It is a central tenet of devolution that responsibility for the delivery of these projects within certain agreed parameters as laid down in the SLA rests with Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB. In this respect, Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB has appointed a design team to design the accommodation being provided and to bring the project through the tender and construction phases.

The detailed design stage for St. Finian's community college project is almost complete. Planning and other statutory permissions have been obtained. Officials in the Department have been liaising with Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB in recent weeks with a view to resolving some other issues that have arisen with respect to this stage of the project. The matter was discussed at a recent meeting. The primary issue relates to the process for the prequalification of contractors to deliver the project. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that these issues have been worked through and Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB is now proceeding with its prequalification process. Once this process is complete, the project will move to the next stage. This involves the preparation and issue of tender documents and the appointment of contractors to complete the project. This process will be carried out by Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB and its design team.

I acknowledge that delivery of this project has taken longer than envisaged. This was the result of a number of issues which arose with respect to this project and which required time to resolve. These issues included delays in obtaining statutory consents from the local authority and delays in the finalisation of the detailed design process up to this point. While this process has not yet been completed, I want to assure the Deputy and the House that there is now a clear path to completion of this stage and towards progression to the next stage. The project is now moving into a space where it can quickly progress the prequalification of contractors and thereafter move to tender and construction phases.

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