Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Deputy's engagement on, and interest in, this particular project. I am pleased to advise that the project on a greenfield site was approved for delivery by my Department for the school in question. The project provides for four mainstream classrooms and one special education needs, SEN, base under the Department's timber modular framework. The site was transferred from Solas to the Minister for Education at nil cost, in line with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform circulars regarding the transfer and disposal of State assets. The project has been devolved for delivery to Laois Offaly Education and Training Board, LOETB.

Under my Department’s service level agreement with LOETB, the ETB has responsibility for communicating progress on the project to the school authorities concerned. A design team was appointed to guide the project through the stages of architectural planning and tendering, with the ultimate goal of proceeding to construction in a timely manner.

The project will employ my Department’s timber modular framework, which is manufactured to comply with the Department’s technical guidance documents. These are available on the Department’s website. The project will achieve a low embodied carbon footprint that will meet or exceed 2030 targets contained within Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland, RIAI, 2030 climate challenge target metrics for new-build schools published in October 2021. My Department's professional and technical officers are working closely with design teams on this project and others employing this innovative technology.

My Department has a strong track record of delivery of school building projects and this was achieved again in 2022, notwithstanding the wider construction sector environment of high inflation, labour shortages and supply chain issues. This is evidenced by the fact that there are currently 300 school building projects at construction stage and a further 1,000 at pre-construction stage, including the project referred to by the Deputy. The Department will continue to review its ongoing enrolment requirements for 2023 and the associated work programme.

The particular project raised by her is currently at planning application stage with a final decision to be made in late February. The Department is currently examining needs for the 2023-24 school year as part of its overall assessment of our work programme.

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