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

I thank the Deputy for his continuing interest in the Cavan project as well as others. More generally, on the Department's capital ceiling over the last period there is a dedicated capital envelope, which the Deputy referred to, that amounted to €300 million for the further education and training sector, FET. Available funding has increased again from a low base of €6 million in 2018 to €107 million in the current year. That is a very significant multiplier of the available funding for the FET colleges and the FET system.

Funding for the FET capital projects is distributed through SOLAS under a number of different funding streams. There are 70 small- to medium-scale projects being progressed at the moment. This includes everything from minor capital works, emergency health and safety works and the strategic infrastructure upgrade fund, as well as devolved funding directly from my Department for minor capital works.

I am aware the Cavan-Monaghan project is of interest to the Deputy. The proposal there is to build centralised accommodation on land owned and currently occupied by the Cavan Institute on Cathedral Road in the town. That building will have modern learning spaces, specialised areas, and social and recreation spaces, surrounded by open spaces to create a vibrant campus community. It will have a complete range of supports, including guidance counselling. We heard earlier how important counselling is to make sure students make the right choices at the right times. The campus will also include quiet spaces and informal learning spaces. The project received approval in October 2024, it passed through approval gate No. 1, AG-1, of the infrastructure guidelines and is progressing to the next stage, which is pre-tender, project design, planning, and procurement strategy stage. SOLAS is currently working with the Cavan-Monaghan ETB to progress this through the next stage.

As the Deputy has flagged this as an area of interest, I will certainly keep a close eye on it and will update him as it progresses along. It is going well. It is past the first stage and is now at the next stage, which is the pre-tender stage. SOLAS, the Department and I are working to progress it. We will certainly make sure it moves quickly along.

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