Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, the current position relating to a capital project to deliver additional accommodation for Charleville National School under the Department’s special educational needs, SEN, reconfiguration and modular accommodation programme. The school authorities of Charleville National School applied to the Department for additional accommodation under the additional school accommodation scheme to cater for increased enrolment. Approval was granted to the school authority recently for one special educational needs classroom, one mainstream classroom and one special education tuition room. The project as outlined is being delivered under the Department’s devolved SEN reconfiguration and modular accommodation programme. This programme adds an additional stream of delivery under the additional school accommodation scheme, which allows school authorities the choice of managing the project solely as client with access to the Department’s frameworks, or to avail of the services of a project manager under the Department’s project management framework. The appointment of a project manager to a project supports accelerated delivery of the accommodation and maximises assistance to the school authorities for the brief outlined.

The school authorities of Charleville National School have chosen to access the services of Rogerson Reddan as project manager for this project. The project will be delivered from the Department's procurement frameworks of which there are two, the modular accommodation framework for the provision of modular accommodation from several manufacturers nationwide and the term maintenance framework that allows school authorities access to several contractors also for reconfiguration elements of a project.

I am pleased to advise that the project for Charleville National School has entered the delivery phase. A signed form of acceptance from the school authority was received by officials on 24 April last. The school authority in conjunction with their project manager can appoint contractors and works can commence. However, it is important to outline that the overall construction sector environment is challenging, and the Department and the project management company are doing everything possible to ensure that the appropriate accommodation is delivered as quickly as possible. The Department is fully aware of the urgency in respect of same. The school authorities have overall responsibility for delivery of the project. Officials from the Department of Education hold weekly meetings with the assigned project managers to ensure the project remains on track for delivery and will ensure that the school authorities are updated regularly on overall project delivery and timelines.

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