Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Deputy's commitment to the delivery of this project. I also acknowledge that it is a project where the importance of delivery has been drawn to my attention. The Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, and myself are very committed to the provision of special education. Some 25% of our budget, in excess of €2 billion, is expended, rightly so, on special education. There is an enormous commitment from the Department to that.

From what I have outlined, the Deputy will see that significant progress in advancing this project has been made. He referenced planning permission, and fire safety certification is pending from the local authority, whose role we acknowledge. The design team is currently working on the tender documents. Equally, to expedite the project, pre-qualification for contractors, which is important, is being carried out in parallel with the completion and review of stage 2b. Again, as the Deputy acknowledged, the design team has been authorised to commence the process last week. The manner in which we are as much as possible taking a twin-track approach underlines our commitment.

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