Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, to the House. I raise a very important issue relating to education in Ennistymon, County Clare. The debate on a community school for the area has been ongoing since I was in school there in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There are three schools in Ennistymon, namely, the CBS, the vocational school and Scoil Mhuire, all of which do an excellent job in providing educational opportunities to young people. I and others of my generation went to school there and did exceptionally well.

The problem relates to the schools' infrastructure. The buildings are many decades old. Pupils must commute from one school to another in order to optimise their choice of subjects and ensure they have the opportunities available to other students. That is done in inclement weather conditions such as those currently being experienced in County Clare, where it is pouring rain. The children must move from one school to another in order to study subjects such as history, science, woodwork and so on. The pupils of the three schools are criss-crossing the town of Ennistymon.

I was delighted at the Government announcement in 2013 or 2014 that funding for a state-of-the-art, purpose-built community school to amalgamate the three schools was being provided. An amalgamation committee of which I was a member was in being for several years prior to that. It included Oireachtas representatives for the area and the trustees, boards of management and principals of the schools. Since the funding announcement, the project successfully went through the planning process.

People want to know when building will commence and when students will be able to enrol in the new facility. The process has been going on for a long time. The money is available and planning permission has been granted. When will construction commence and when can enrolment begin?

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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On behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides the Minister with an opportunity to outline to the Seanad the current position in regard to the major building project for the new amalgamated post-primary school in Ennistymon in County Clare. The project will deliver a new post-primary school to cater for 650 pupils, as well as a new primary school on the site. It is currently at stage 2b, which is detailed design of architectural planning and includes the application for statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documents. Planning permission has been received for the project.

The Department of Education and Skills has recently given authorisation to commence the pre-qualification of main contractors and reserved specialists for the mechanical and electrical works with the aim of establishing shortlists of appropriate candidates who can successfully undertake the respective works. Pre-qualification usually takes between eight and 12 weeks to complete. When pre-qualification is complete and the stage 2b report has been finalised and approved, the project will be progressed to tender stage. Tender stage usually takes between seven and eight months to complete.

This school is being delivered as part of a wider batch of projects which benefit from using a professional external project manager to co-ordinate the respective design teams on each building project. This method combines traditional delivery with project manager support using existing design team procedures, careful and rigorous programming and constant review to achieve the best possible timeframe. The Department meets the project manager monthly to review the progress of all of the projects. The normal quality and cost control requirements inherent in the design team procedures and the Department’s design guidelines continue to apply and design teams must meet those established standards. This project is included in the six year programme to go to tender and construction in 2019 to 2021.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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The pre-tendering process is taking place as we speak or is about to take place and will take eight to 12 weeks. When that is completed, the tendering process and identification of a suitable contractor will take seven to eight months. Is it reasonable to expect that construction will begin on the site in 2019 and the first enrolment of students will be in September 2021?

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The information I have been given by the Minister indicates it takes up to 12 weeks for the pre-qualification stage and seven to eight months for tender. I cannot give a definitive timeframe because one must always consider events, dear boy, events. I am very familiar with such projects. Clonakilty Community College is on my doorstep and is slightly ahead of the project in Ennistymon as the tender is about to be opened. It has been through the stages that the Ennistymon project must undergo and in that case the two stages took two or three months more than the estimated 12 month period. This project may be lucky but, realistically, construction will begin in 12 to 15 months based on the information I have been given, subject to the caveat that unforeseen events may arise.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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The fact that there is a timeline-----

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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The Senator is out of order.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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-----is very good news with which people in Ennistymon will be delighted.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I cannot allow the Minister of State to reply further. Senator Conway is satisfied with the reply he received.