Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise the issue. The need to build a new primary school in Knocklyon has been on the political agenda for at least 15 years. This is the largest primary school in the country; approximately 1,500 students attend it. For far too long a large portion of the classrooms have been prefabricated buildings, many of which have long passed their use-by date.

The school has gone through the various stages to facilitate construction and got to a point in October this year where the final documentation was furnished to the Department of Education and Skills. It is my understanding that it was indicated to the school board and the principals of the school that by 15 November, the final consideration would be given to the final document received relating to the project. Indications were given that the tendering process to construct the school would commence.

I ask the Minister of State to tell the House the current position. Was sanction given yesterday or will it be given this week to the tendering process? When will the construction of the school be advertised for tender? I am conscious that a substantial amount of money for the construction of schools during 2010 remains unspent and I am very anxious to be assured that not only will the tendering process be sanctioned and go ahead, but also that the funding is available to construct this school.

I am very conscious of the state of the public finances and the catastrophic difficulties confronting the State but in the context of tackling the major unemployment crisis we have, with in the region of 450,000 unemployed, there is great value to the State as well as to individual communities in the construction of school building projects going ahead. We can now build new schools at far less expense than was the case in the past. We have a huge body construction workers currently unemployed in receipt of social welfare who are looking for employment. The construction of this school would not only be of substantial benefit to the local community in Knocklyon and to the students attending the school, but would provide badly needed employment.

In order for the school to be constructed, it has to move to a temporary site. I understand that it was the hope that if tendering proceeded or was sanctioned this week, the school would move to its temporary site next Easter and would be able to open after the Easter break at the temporary site so the project could be advanced and construction could start. I hope the timeframe that was indicated after literally 15 years battling to get this school built will be complied with and I hope the Minister will tell us on the record of the House this evening that the project is going ahead and the tendering process can start. If I am not going to be told that, I want the Minister to explain why that is the case.

This is a crucial moment for the construction of this school. Far too many pupils in this school are using prefabricated classrooms that are inadequate. The school lacks the type of library and play facilities it should have and the staff lack the basic facilities which should be available to teachers in a school of this size. I hope we will get some good news tonight and, if not, I hope the Minister will tell us why.

Seán Connick (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I am replying to this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Mary Coughlan. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Dáil the Government's strategy for capital investment in school building projects and also to outline the current position for St. Colmcille's senior and junior national school, Knocklyon, Dublin 16.

Modernising facilities in our existing building stock as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth is a significant challenge. The Government has shown a consistent determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure that the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum. The allocation of funding for school buildings in 2010 is almost €579 million and this represents a significant investment in the schools building and modernisation programme. This level of funding, at a time of great pressure on public finances, is a sign of the Government's commitment to investing in school infrastructure and it will permit the continuation of the Department's programme of sustained investment in primary and post-primary schools.

All applications for capital funding are assessed in the planning and building unit of the Department. The assessment process determines the extent and type of need presenting based on the demographics of an area, proposed housing developments, condition of buildings, site capacity, etc., leading to an appropriate accommodation solution. As part of this process, a project is assigned a band rating under published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects and these criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners.

Projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to a project. In other words, a proposed building project moves through the system commensurate with the band rating assigned to it. There are four band ratings overall, of which band one is the highest and band four the lowest. Band one projects, for example, include the provision of buildings where none currently exists but there is a high demand for pupil places, while a band four project makes provision of desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities, such as a library or new sports hall. The project for St. Colmcille's senior and junior national school has been assigned a band rating of 2.1 under the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects. A band rating of 2.1 means that there is a deficit of mainstream accommodation in the school and the deficit constitutes a substantial and significant proportion of the school's overall accommodation needs.

All major projects on the Department's capital programme progress through the same structured process of architectural planning which is divided into clearly defined stages. There are five stages involved in the progression of major school building projects through architectural planning. These stages are set out in the Department's design team procedures and are necessary to comply with Department of Finance guidelines which require that capital projects be fully designed prior to going to tender. They also ensure proper cost management of capital projects and facilitate compliance with statutory and public procurement requirements.

The project referred to by the Deputy provides for the removal of all existing prefabricated buildings and demolition of the existing St. Colmcille's junior and senior school buildings in a phased development programme and their replacement with a new three storey 58 classroom school. The total floor area will be 9,847 sq. m. with ancillary accommodation which will include general purpose rooms, libraries, meeting rooms, special educational rooms, three atriums, junior and senior administration offices, car parking and play areas.

To facilitate the construction of the new schools in a phased approach, planning permission has been secured to relocate St. Colmcille's senior school to a temporary prefabricated structure at the nearby Ballyboden Saint Enda's GAA grounds. For the duration of the building project, St. Colmcille's junior school will remain on the existing site. The project for St Colmcille's senior and junior school was authorised earlier this year to progress to tender and construction. Following a third party appeal to An Bord Pleanála, the final grant of planning permission was upheld. The fire certificate and disability access certificates have also been secured.

In October, the design team submitted the stage 2b report, which has been reviewed by the Department. Following this, a letter recently issued to the school authority requesting confirmation from all design team members that a final review would be undertaken and that a complete and co-ordinated package of tender documents would be prepared for issue to tenderers. The Department intends to publish an advert later this week in the EU journal and on the Government's etenders website seeking suitably qualified contractors. This is the first phase in a two-stage tender process and will result in a shortlist of ten main contractors who will then be invited to tender for the works.

I thank the Deputy again for giving me the opportunity to outline to the Dáil the current position regarding the school building project for St. Colmcille's senior and junior school.