James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for raising the important matter of Owenabue Educate Together National School. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter because it provides the Minister with an opportunity to clarify the position in respect of the Department's plans for the school.

Owenabue Educate Together National School is a co-educational, multidenominational school under the patronage of Educate Together. It is located in the town of Carrigaline, County Cork. The school opened in 2020-21 with seven enrolments and was located in interim accommodation owned by Carrigaline Lions Club. The school subsequently relocated to its existing privately owned accommodation in 2021-22. Last September, it had a current enrolment of 63 pupils. The school is located in the Carrigaline school planning area and there are currently eight primary schools and three post-primary school in this school planning area. The school's current staffing is a principal, two mainstream class teachers, two special class teachers, one special education tuition teacher, one shared special education tuition teacher and an EAL post.

I am pleased to advise that a building project to provide a new 16-classroom primary school building to include special education needs provision for the school is being advanced by the Department.

The acquisition of a 2.76 acre permanent site for the school, at Janeville, Shannon Park, Carrigaline, is currently at an advanced stage of conveyancing. It is expected that contracts will be signed shortly. The suite of accommodation to be provided as part of the building project includes 16 classrooms, a general purpose room, a library and ancillary accommodation. In addition, the school will have two classrooms for children with special educational needs and external facilities such as ball courts, junior play areas and soft play areas.

The project will be delivered as part of the Department's accelerated delivery of architectural planning and tendering, ADAPT, programme. The programme uses a professional external project manager to co-ordinate and drive the design team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of architectural planning to tender and construction. The project is currently at design team tender assessment. It is estimated that the design team appointment will be ratified during quarter 2 of 2024. Upon appointment, the team will proceed to stage 1 of architectural planning, preliminary design, where it will assess the site and prepare its initial sketch schemes. A preferred design option, including the scope and extent of works to be carried out, will be established during this early stage.

Pending provision of the new school building, further interim arrangements are required for the 2024-25 academic school year to facilitate the growth of the school. Officials in the Department are in discussions with the school's patron, Educate Together, to look at options available to allow the school to expand and to put a solution in place in this regard. No decision has yet been made regarding the accommodation solution for 2024-25.

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