Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Byrne for raising this matter. As I said previously, I am taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley. It gives me an opportunity to update the House on the position regarding the planned construction of the new school for the Gaelscoil in Kilbride, County Wicklow, which has 279 pupils and was established in 1998.

The school project is part of a campus project on a greenfield site with a Gaelcholáiste at Kilbride, County Wicklow. It has been devolved for delivery to Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB. The brief for Gaelscoil an Inbhir Mhóir includes the provision of 16 classrooms, two classrooms for special education needs, a general-purpose room, a library, a multipurpose room, special education rooms, a principal's office and other ancillary accommodation. In brief, it is everything needed to run a school.

The design team has responsibility for progressing the project as expeditiously as possible through the various stages of architectural design, planning, procurement and construction. The project for Gaelscoil an Inbhir Mhóir is currently at stage 2b of the process, which is the planning and detailed design. Departmental officials requested the design team to incorporate a decarbonisation strategy with a revised cost plan as part of the stage 2b submission. From what Senator Byrne said in his contribution, this was issued in August 2022.

Planning permission for the project was granted subject to a number of conditions, one of which was to complete an agreement in relation to wayleaves required on the site. I assume this has been completed. A legal wayleave agreement is required to facilitate access and egress arrangements to the site, as well as for access to underground services required as part of this project. Departmental officials recently facilitated a meeting with all parties, including the project design team and landowners to establish the scope and footprint of the required wayleave extension. Costings for the proposed revisions are being prepared by the design team for submission to the Department. The revised stage 2b report and costings will be examined by the Department from a technical and cost perspective, in line with the requirements of the public Infrastructure guidelines. Pending receipt and review of the stage 2b report, it is not feasible to give an indicative timeline for the project’s practical completion.

Since 2020, the Department has invested in the region of €4.8 billion in our schools throughout the country. This involved the completion of more than 800 school building projects, with construction under way at 300 other projects, which include 30 new school buildings. These 300 projects at construction involve a total investment of more than €1.2 billion. In addition to the progression of 90 projects from tender stage to construction that was announced in April as part of an €800 million investment, the Department’s planning unit is also progressing a flow of projects at stage 2b to tender stage over the course of 2024. I certainly hear Senator Byrne's call that the school he is representing is part of this. I will certainly bring this back to the Minister, Deputy Foley.

This progression of projects to tender is being done as part of the management of the overall capital programme within funding parameters and is primarily focused on priorities for additional capacity.With the sewer issues in Arklow, which is a growing commuter belt town, being addressed, this is a priority for Senator Byrne and the people he represents. The next steps for Gaelscoil an Inbhir Mhóir will be considered when the updated stage 2 submission has been received and assessed by the Department. To be fair to the Minister, she has given the Senator clear guidance as to what needs to be done there, which is to get the costings back to the Department as soon as possible.