Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter as it allows me the opportunity to update the House on the current position in respect of the provision of accommodation for Greystones Community College in the first instance and also for Greystones Community National School. It was the intention to open the community college in the newly constructed community national school building in September 2020 but, unfortunately, that has not proved possible.

Greystones Community College opened its doors to 64 first year students on Friday, 28 August 2020 in Greystones Lawn Tennis Club. The school, Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB and my Department are grateful to Greystones Lawn Tennis Club for facilitating Greystones Community College. I wish to acknowledge the efforts of the entire school community in preparing the accommodation for the school's opening in these particularly difficult and trying circumstances. A licence agreement is in place for this interim accommodation with a commencement date of 17 August 2020 until the end of December 2020.

Senior Department officials met KWETB and Greystones Community College on Wednesday, 23 September to discuss the school's current arrangements and the immediate and future accommodation requirements of the school. My Department has agreed to look at all potential options in the area in the short and medium term ahead of the school's move to its designated permanent site in Charlesland, Greystones. This will include the provision of appropriate temporary accommodation, including specialist rooms, as quickly as possible as the current school year progresses. Officials of my Department will continue to work closely with KWETB and the school to ensure the needs of the school community will be met. Department officials, along with the school and KWETB, met Greystones Lawn Tennis Club on Monday, 28 September 2020 to discuss and request an extension to the existing arrangements. The tennis club has agreed to extend the current licence agreement until the end of December 2020 and is willing to consider extending beyond that if so required. The school and KWETB are aware of this development.

In the meantime, my Department continues to work on exploring options for further interim specialist accommodation for the school. Department officials have been in discussion with Greystones Rugby Club and the club has agreed to allow for further temporary accommodation on its site to meet additional needs for either of the schools should this be required. The Department will progress this as necessary over the coming weeks in consultation with the schools and the ETB.

The building project to deliver a permanent new 1,000 pupil school for Greystones Community College is planned for the designated post-primary site at Charlesland, as was referenced. My Department is committed to delivering this site for the new post-primary school for the Greystones and Kilcoole area of County Wicklow and work is ongoing to achieve that as soon as possible. Discussions are ongoing with the landowner with a view to acquiring the site. As the Deputies will appreciate, any site acquisition process may be lengthy and there may be complex issues which need to be addressed during negotiations, technical assessments or conveyancing. At all times, my Department must strive to obtain best value for the Exchequer while seeking to complete the acquisition as quickly and efficiently as possible. The project to deliver permanent accommodation for the school is to be delivered under my Department's design and build programme. As soon as there is sufficient certainty in respect of completion of the site acquisition, the architectural planning and design stage will be completed and, following grant of planning permission, the project will be expedited to tender and construction stages.

On the letter referenced by Deputy Whitmore, that letter was not forwarded to my Department by the contractor. However, the Department has had sight of the letter. There are several inaccuracies in that communication. Notwithstanding that, there has been ongoing communication between my Department and the contractor. Certain information was provided by the contractor at the end of September. In October, the Department informed the contractor that further information was required. That was provided at the end of October and is currently being adjudicated on.

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