James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

For the record, as regards Galway and Roscommon ETB, I think €1.03 million in funding just in the current year is already earmarked, even aside from this project. I am aware, however, that there was a request for the square footage to be reduced. I think there was an application for 25,000 sq. m. The college was invited to submit a revised business case. There was a meeting with SOLAS and Department officials with all 12 ETBs included in this package, including Galway and Roscommon ETB, in April and May 2024 and each ETB gave a presentation on its proposals. Following those meetings, each ETB, including Galway and Roscommon ETB, was provided with feedback on affordability, value for money and relevant regional and national FET policy objectives. Based on that, all ETBs were asked to refine their business case proposals to ensure they delivered on priority infrastructure requirements within available funding parameters. ETBs were invited to submit their proposals to SOLAS for evaluation. GRETB recently submitted its business case proposal, and that is the evaluation scheduled for the first week in April, so we are not too far off a milestone. The Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, is following this with great interest as well. That is where it is at, so it is effectively next week or next fortnight.

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