Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and for providing the opportunity to outline to the House the current position with Tubber National School on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley. Deputy Crowe has been a real advocate in relation to the concerns and issues raised in his own constituency in County Clare. I refer to the current position of an application for a capital project to deliver additional accommodation for Tubber National School in County Clare.

The school authority of Tubber National School applied to the Department of Education in September 2022. Initial approval was received for additional accommodation under the additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme. I am pleased to announce that this project has now been approved to move to the delivery stage. The school authority will be notified shortly of the next steps in relation to the progression of this project.

The accommodation approved is for the delivery of two mainstream classrooms, one speciation education tuition room, an office-reception room and a staff room. The project as outlined is being delivered under the Department’s devolved SEN reconfiguration and modular accommodation programme. As I said earlier, this programme adds an additional stream of delivery under the additional school accommodation scheme, which allows school authorities access to the Department’s frameworks. The accommodation for Tubber National School will be provided in a modular building from a manufacturer appointed by the Department of Education’s modular accommodation framework. The use of the Department's modular accommodation framework assists in ensuring lead-in periods for the procurement of modular accommodation are minimised to the greatest extent possible. To date, this has worked very well in the education sector and has seen the delivery of large-scale, high-quality modular accommodation to meet the needs of children, particularly those with special educational needs.

Projects delivered under the scheme are devolved to school authorities under the terms and conditions of the scheme and it is a matter for schools to progress these projects on that basis subject to Departmental review at various points in the process. The Department is fully aware of the need for urgency in respect of Tubber National School. As I said earlier, the school authority has overall responsibility and officials from the Department of Education will work closely with the school authority and its consultant to ensure there is timely delivery of this much-needed accommodation.

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