Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to raise this issue. It concerns a school in my constituency, Scoil Chonaill Naofa, Bunbeg. I have raised this matter on a number of occasions in the Seanad since 2007 and I am glad progress is being made. I was informed on 16 September last by the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, in a letter that officials from his Department would shortly write to the board of management to authorise its design team to revise the tender documents in preparation for progressing the project to tender and construction. Previous to that the Minister and the Department had given approval to use the former Coláiste Cholmcille building as alternative accommodation during the school building project. The Minister went on in his letter to say the question of the main project proceeding to tender would be considered in the context of finalising the 2010 capital programme.

The project itself relates to the provision of accommodation to cater for pupils at the school and four mainstream staff teachers, together with ancillary staff, and planning permission for the project has been granted. There have been further developments since the Minister's letter of 16 September last. I am glad to report that officials from the Department's school building unit have been in touch with the board of management of the school and have met the design team for the project at Scoil Chonaill Naofa. I understand that the mandatory stage 2b documentation has been provided in compliance with the Department's guidelines. The board of management of the school has drawn my attention to one of the technical specifications surrounding that process. Subsection (k) of a document produced by the Department's planning and building unit, Design Team Procedures 2007 - Practice Note 1, states: "where approval to go to tender is delayed more than 1 month after the submission of the Stage 2b report, it will be necessary for the Quantity Surveyor to up-date the cost-check prior to issuing tenders". That places a further burden on the board of management, in effect. The board has essentially asked me to seek approval for the project to proceed to stage 3 and the subsequent stages of design team procedures, tender and construction. If additional delays cause the project to be put back until the end of November, it may be necessary for the board of management to revisit the tender documentation once more, which would place an additional burden on it.

I take this opportunity to thank the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, for his commitment to this project. He has listened to my representations and those of my constituency colleagues in respect of this project. A great deal has been achieved in recent months so it is important that we help the board of management by allowing the project to proceed to tender and construction as quickly as possible. While I appreciate that the Department's capital programme is facing financial constraints, I hope this project can go to tender. The intention is that competitive tenders will be achieved and the project will be completed in the next six to 12 months. A number of factors suggest it would be advantageous to go to tender at this stage. The alternative accommodation that is now available at Coláiste Cholmcille might not be available in the long term and it is important that we allow the project to proceed in the short term.