Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for the question. I am here on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley, but hope to provide some updates new to the Deputy on the proposed development of this multischool campus on the Swords Road in Whitehall. A memorandum of understanding, MOU, between the Department of Education and City of Dublin Education and Training Board, ETB, was finalised in March 2022. This MOU sets out an ambitious agreement between the two parties which delivers strategic benefits across the schools and further education and training sectors by maximising the value of properties across north Dublin city. Under the proposed agreement, City of Dublin ETB will take a long-term lease of the Cathal Brugha Street-Marlborough Street property and will consolidate some of its further education training provision there, including provision currently made at Killester College of Further Education and Marino College of Further Education.

The MOU also sets out the provision of schools infrastructure across City of Dublin ETB sites, including a new school building for Killester-Raheny educate together national school at the Killester College of Further Education site and a multischool campus at the Swords Road site in Whitehall. This multischool campus site was identified as a solution to provide a new 1,000-student school building for Clonturk Community College, a new 1,000-student school building for Ellenfield Community College and a new eight-classroom primary school for Gaelscoil Áine, which is under the patronage of An Foras Pátrúnachta.

The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, Deputy Naughton, and Dr. Christy Duffy, chief executive of City of Dublin ETB, announced in October 2024 that a permanent building for An Cosán Community Special School will also be included on the Whitehall campus, which will make this the State’s largest ever multischool campus. This shared campus approach promotes an inclusive learning environment for all students in the community and reflects the Department of Education's commitment to the co-location of new special schools with mainstream schools where possible.

The continuation of further education and training provision on the Swords Road site has also been identified as a priority by City of Dublin ETB. In that context, the Whitehall campus project on the Swords Road site will include master planning for potential further education and training facility development. The project will be delivered under the Department's ADAPT programme, which uses a professional external project manager to co-ordinate and drive the design team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages from architectural planning to tender and construction. The campus project is in early architectural planning, which involves site surveys, school design stages and the preparation of statutory applications.

The programme manager for the ADAPT 4 programme was appointed in quarter 3 2023 and has been progressing the tender documentation for the procurement of the multidisciplinary design team consultants, which has now issued to tender. The tender competition is due to close before the end of this year and it is anticipated that design team consultants will be appointed early in quarter 1 2025. Following those appointments, the project will commence stage 1 preliminary design. The design team will then progress the project through the design stages.

Unfortunately, as with all school building projects, the exact timeframe for delivery of the permanent accommodation will be dependent on securing the grant of planning permission. However, the advancement of this key strategic project is a priority for the Department and for City of Dublin ETB. A significant amount of work, as the Senator outlined, has already been undertaken on the project, including close stakeholder engagement on some critical strategic aspects of the overall solution. This advance work positions this ambitious project well to progress as part of the Department’s capital programme pipeline.