James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Darren O'Rourke for raising the issue of plans and timeline for delivery of a new school building for Dunshaughlin Community National School, Dunshaughlin, County Meath. The school building project for Dunshaughlin Community National School is part of the Department’s construction programme and will be delivered as part of a campus project that will provide a new eight-classroom primary school and accommodation, including two classrooms for children with special educational needs for Dunshaughlin CNS and a new 1,000-pupil post-primary school and accommodation, including four classrooms for children with special educational needs for Coláiste Ríoga.

The project currently has planning permission and is, along with a number of other projects, being brought to the level of employer-led design with a design team assigned to do so under the supervision of the Department’s project manager. The process of appointing the design team from the Department’s frameworks of consultants was completed in September 2023 and the project is currently close to completion of stage 2b of the architectural design process. Stage 2b involves detailed design and the preparation of tender documentation. The next stage, subject to relevant stage 2b approvals, will be stage 3, which is the tender stage.

Planning permission for Dunshaughlin CNS was granted on 4 November 2020. In the event that an extension to the current planning permission is required, the Department's project manager will arrange for the preparation of the necessary documentation for same in due course. The project is currently anticipated to progress to tender in quarter 4 of 2024 subject to relevant stage 2b approvals. Projects are subject to relevant due diligence at each stage in the process, within the context of overall programme and budgetary parameters.

The Department will continue to liaise with the school and patron body in relation to interim accommodation requirements and provide any updates in relation to progress on the school building project. The school is currently located in interim accommodation on the Dunshaughlin GAA site. The Department has provided two additional classrooms to meet the school’s accommodation requirements for the 2024 and 2025 school years.

BCAR documentation is due to be uploaded to the building control management system of the local authority in the coming days. Once BCAR validation has been received, the school can occupy the accommodation.

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