Seanad debates
Wednesday, 18 December 2002
Adjournment Matters. - Cork School of Music.
John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. Cork City has been declared European City of Culture in 2005, a prestigious honour not only for Cork but for the country, which will help us promote the arts and culture on both the European and world stage.
The Cork School of Music is steeped in the cultural history of Cork. It has received world-wide recognition for its contribution to musical education, most recently the introduction of the Suzuki method of teaching violin to children from the age of three. It houses two orchestras and has had close association over the years with musicians of the calibre of Professor Fleischmann, Micheál Ó Súilleabháin and the late Sean Ó Riada. It goes without saying that the Cork School of Music will play a major role in the 2005 celebrations and should be the flagship for Cork as European City of Culture.
The staff and pupils of the Cork School of Music vacated the existing school building in September 2001 and are currently in temporary accommodation. This amounts to 14 months in fairly unsuitable accommodation with no end date in sight. The school, with a student population of 3,500 is currently located in 17 different buildings throughout the city while awaiting the construction of the new school. The existing school has been vacant for those 14 months and that alone has serious implications should it have to be reoccupied by the staff and students. One of the primary reasons for designing a completely new building on the existing site, rather than modifying the existing building, was its lack of compliance with current fire, disabled access and health and safety legislation.
The project received Government sanction in October 1999 and is to be constructed and operated on a public private partnership basis over a 25 year period. The process of advertising, consultation, listing preferred bidders etc. was completed in February 2001, with the successful bidder being announced early in April 2001 by the then Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Woods. Planning permission was granted in August 2001 and an appeal to An Bord Pleanála upheld the planning permission in January 2002.
Since then there has been no real action. The contractors' price has held and to date they have not applied for any inflation increase to the project cost. They are ready to commence the 24-month contract for the new school. If the contract does not start by January 2003, Cork, Ireland and Europe will deprived of their flagship for Cork's year as European City of Culture.
An independent report was prepared by Farrell Grant Sparks in April 2002 for the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Finance, demonstrating the affordability of the Cork School of Music. This report clearly shows that the Jarvis bid offers potential quantitative value for money and is 3% below the equivalent risk-adjusted value for money comparator. The report also highlights the approximate cost per month, the current delay in approving the project and the impact to the Exchequer. It is worth noting at this point, for those not familiar with the finer details of public private partnerships, that it would be at the hand-over period of the school that the first payment would be incurred, that is January 2005.
The new school of music was launched as one of the two pilot education public private partnership projects. If this project is stopped it will have serious cost implications for the Government in terms of having to settle outstanding costs to the preferred bidder. It would have a damaging effect on the whole public private partnership market and send a negative message to the private sector. If a pilot public private partnership project cannot get off the ground, what chance have the public private partnerships of succeeding in the area of education?
It is somewhat ironic that as late as yesterday we debated in this House the new National Finance Development Agency to promote public private partnerships. This is not a new capital project, but a replacement project. All relevant procedures have been followed, reports justifying the project completed and prices agreed. The final obstacle now appears to be the Civil Service, which has yet to put in place the necessary financial arrangements for the public private partnership. It is incumbent on everyone to move this process forward and remove the obstacles blocking its progress. I urge the Minister to remove this blockage, wherever it lies, and ensure that this contract is delivered on time in the interests of the students, the staff and the people of Cork, the European City of Culture in 2005.
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue on the Adjournment. As he is aware, the new Cork School of Music, a constituent part of Cork Institute of Technology, is being procured under the public private partnership model. The CSM provides training in a wide range of musical instruments, musical theory and speech and drama. The school caters for first, second, third and fourth level students, whether they are amateur musicians, music teachers or performers.
The tender for this project was advertised on a European basis in June 2000. Following the project launch in July 2000, 12 consortiums expressed an interest in bidding for the project. Following the presentation of outline proposals, the number of bidders was eventually reduced to three. These bidders were issued with an invitation to negotiate in November 2000. The consortium bids were submitted in February 2001 and were subject to detailed evaluation under design and construction, services, financial and legal headings by officials of the Department of Education and Science along with specialist advisers. Following this process, Jarvis Projects Limited was selected as the preferred bidder in March 2001.
The Department of Education and Science officials and advisers entered into a period of intense discussion with Jarvis with a view to finalising the project financially. During this period Jarvis, under the terms of the project, sought and received planning permission for the project from Cork City Council. However, An Taisce submitted a planning appeal to An Bord Pleanála. During the period of the appeal, work on the project was suspended and it was only resumed after An Bord Pleanála rejected the appeal and granted planning permission for the development, as the Senator pointed out, on 24 December 2001.
The Department of Finance has raised a number of issues in respect of the project. Officials from the Department of Education and Science, in conjunction with specialist advisers, are examining these issues and have been in contact with Department of Finance officials. In addition, the question of the involvement of the European Investment Bank must be addressed. Proposals have been tabled whereby the EIB will provide refinancing for the project two years into the operations phase, thus reducing the overall cost. Discussions with both the Department of Finance and the EIB are continuing. These should be completed in the near future and a definitive decision on the project will be made.
The Minister for Education and Science would like to assure the Senator that he is fully aware of the importance of the school of music to Cork city and to the musical and cultural life of Cork and the whole Munster region. I agree with the Senator that this is an important flagship project and he has brought our attention to the fact that the practical implementation of these public private partnerships is of immense importance. I will bring to the attention of the Minister the importance of finalising this matter.