Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Through Project Ireland 2040, over the period 2021-25, in excess of €5 billion will be invested in upgrading school facilities across the country for the almost 1 million students and more than 100,000 staff members who learn and work in our schools every day.

The Department has approved a large-scale building project for the school to which the Deputy refers. He has advocated very strongly on an ongoing basis for this school. The project involves the provision of a new-build extension and alterations to the existing school buildings that will provide modern school facilities and cater for an enrolment of 300 students. The project has been devolved for delivery to Cork Education and Training Board, ETB, and has recently been approved to move to stage 2B of the architectural design process.

In November 2022, officials from my Department met Cork ETB and its design team and a number of recommendations were made in relation to the design of the project. Cork ETB's design team incorporated these recommendations in its stage 2A addendum report, which was submitted to the Department of Education in August. This was reviewed by the Department's professional and technical team and approval to progress to stage 2B is now sanctioned.

The next step for Cork ETB and its design team will be to obtain the requisite statutory planning approvals and incorporating same into the detailed design and tender documentation for the new school project. The Department will continue to work closely with Cork ETB to ensure support and to monitor progress on this project. Cork ETB will also engage with the school community to keep it updated on all significant developments.

This project is part of the strong pipeline of projects being delivered under the Department's school building programme involving almost 300 projects at construction in 2023, which include more than 40 new school buildings. This is a very positive step forward for this school. I know it is a school that is very close to the Deputy's heart. It is a school that is richly deserving of advancement. It is a very positive news story that we can say that stage 2B has now been sanctioned and that the next step is to move towards the requisite statutory planning approvals.

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