Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, I thank Senator Reilly for raising this matter as it provides the Minister with an opportunity to clarify the current position in regard to major capital projects for the Holy Family special school in Cootehill, County Cavan.

The Senator will be aware of the demographic challenge facing the education system in the coming years. Primary enrolments, which have already risen substantially in recent years, are projected to rise by almost 37,000 pupils by 2016 and are set to continue to rise, with a likely peak in 2019. To meet the needs of our growing population of school-going children, the Department must establish new schools and extend or replace a number of existing schools in areas where population growth has been identified. The delivery of these new schools, together with extension projects to meet future demand, will be the main focus of the Department's budget for the coming years.

Holy Family school, Cootehill, is a multi-denominational special needs school. The school is co-educational and caters for pupils from four to 18 years. The school caters for pupils with moderate learning disabilities, severe or profound learning disabilities and pupils with autism. Enrolments at Holy Family school for the school year 2014-2015 were 136 pupils, an increase of 16% over the past five years.

The brief for the major building project for Holy Family school, Cootehill is to provide a new 21-classroom special school and appropriate ancillary accommodation, with associated car parking, a bus drop-off, a sports pitch, play areas, a sensory garden and site boundary treatment. The project to provide the permanent accommodation for Holy Family special school is currently at stage 2a, development design, of the architectural planning process. In order to complete stage 2a design, it recently became necessary to appoint a replacement consultant mechanical and electrical engineer to the design team. The closing date for receipt of tenders was 12 May 2015 and the appointment of the new engineer will be concluded shortly. The replacement engineer will be involved with the existing design team members in the completion of the mechanical and engineering elements of the design. Thereafter, subject to no further issues arising, the project will progress to the conclusion of stage 2b, with the completion of tender documents. Planning permission, fire safety certification and disability access certification have already been obtained for the project.

School building projects, including the new school for the Holy Family special school, which have not been scheduled for construction in the current five-year construction programme will continue to be progressed to final planning stage in anticipation of the possibility of further funds being made available to the Department in future years. The project for Holy Family special school remains available to be considered for further progress in that context.