Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The brief for the major building project for Scoil an Athar Tadhg in Carrignavar is to provide a new two-storey, 16 classroom school, with a four classroom ASD unit. The current staffing allocation is 13 mainstream teachers, five special class teachers, five permanent resource teachers, two permanent learning support teachers and four shared resource learning support teachers. As of September 2016, 342 pupils were enrolled in the school, an increase of 22, or 6%, on the figures for September 2012. As the Senator said, the school numbers are not declining.

The board of management is the client for the project and is fully responsible for directing the design team in regard to progressing through the design stages of architectural planning. As the Senator pointed out, there is some history to this project. In 2006, a design team was appointed to build a new school on a greenfield site but in 2009, following a meeting with the board of management, the diocesan trust and the Department, it became clear that the proposed exchange of a greenfield site for the current school site, which had been advanced by the board of management, was no longer viable.

A design team was reappointed for the new brief, that is, to accommodate a new school on the existing school site.A replacement civil and structural engineer and quantity surveyor also had to be appointed in June 2011 following the withdrawal of these consultants from the design team. The project progressed through the early design stages of architectural planning and in March 2016 the board of management requested a brief change which included an increase in floor area as a result of the stairwells and lift shaft not having been measured by the design team at stage 2(a); additional costs for compliance with the conditions associated with the statutory approval imposed by Cork County Council; and additional costs associated with a proposal for phased construction of the project. The additional costs increased the previously approved cost plan for the project by just over £2 million.

The brief change was approved by my Department in August 2016. The design team is completing the stage 2(b) submission which includes the preparation of full tender documents. When completed, the stage 2(b) report will be submitted to my Department for review. My Department will revert to the school on the further progression of the project following consideration of the report. The project is included in the six-year construction programme 2016 to 2021 announced in November 2015. However, before it can be approved to proceed to tender, the board of management and its design team must complete their work and submit the stage 2(b) report to my Department. On completion of its review of that report, my Department will revert to the board of management on the further progression of the project to tender and construction stages.