Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for selecting this matter. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe. It is a pity that the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, could not be here. Naas community college is operated by Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB. It has received planning permission on a site that has been selected for some years. My understanding of the current situation is that the tenders have been accepted and examined and it is hopeful that the builders will be on site in November.

The problem is the current situation with the school. The first class that started in the school has reach transition year, TY. It is more than likely that those TY students will not have an opportunity to ever enter the new school. The school is spread over three locations. One is Craddockstown, in temporary structures adjacent to a primary school, while the TY year is housed in what I would term condemned buildings, prefabs, at Pipers' Hill. I understand the Department has spent €60,000 refurbishing those buildings. The Minister of State with responsibility for Defence will certainly understand the importance of physical education, PE, in the life of a student and the reason for the third location used by the school. The local GAA club in Naas has very kindly provided facilities for the school. The three locations are not adjacent to each other; they are located at opposite ends of Naas.

There are 320 applicants for first year in Naas community college this year but the school will have space to accommodate just 120 pupils. There are no classrooms available for those pupils coming into the school in September. The cost to the school, which it raises from its own budget, is €24,000 for shuttle buses to move the students around to the various locations. That does not take into consideration the difficulties teachers also have in moving around those locations. I look forward to the response and update from the Minister of State. The builders will be on site sometime in November, but I am concerned with the current situation. The pupils in TY now will never have access to the new building. What are we going to do over the next year and a half of the building programme? There are no classrooms for the children coming into the school next September.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and providing me with the opportunity to update the House on the delivery of a new building for Naas community college. The school opened in September 2015 in temporary accommodation at Craddockstown Road, Naas. In the meantime, a project for a new building for the school, fit to house 1,000 pupils, was devolved for delivery to KWETB by the Department of Education and Skills through a service level agreement. I am pleased to inform this House that the architectural planning process for the delivery of this project is nearing completion. The design team completed the contractor pre-qualification process for the project in December 2018. Tender documents issued in May and tenders were returned in June. There was a robust tender competition, with all eight of the short-listed contractors bidding.The outcome of that process is that a preferred contractor to complete the project has been identified. A letter of intent was issued last month in that regard. A number of steps need to be taken before a letter of acceptance can be issued to the preferred contractor. The design team is carrying out these steps, which will allow for the confirmation of the appointment of that contractor. These steps are expected to be completed very shortly, and the project is still on target to begin construction on site next month. It is expected, on this basis, that the school will be ready for occupation before September 2021.

While enrolment for the 2018-2019 school year was 379, this figure is up from 266 in 2017-2018 and 163 in the previous year. Increases in intake in the coming years are expected along similar lines. In that context, KWETB, supported by the Department of Education and Skills, is taking the necessary steps to ensure that the temporary accommodation arrangements being put in place for the school will be sufficient to meet its needs until the new school building is ready. Officials from the Department of Education and Skills recently met school representatives of KWETB in respect of that matter. Approval was given at that meeting for KWETB to proceed with a revised brief for the provision of this temporary accommodation. That is being progressed as a matter of priority.

It is most regrettable that this project has not yet been delivered as a result of a number of delays. For example, as the project is being delivered on a site in an area which is earmarked for wider development, it encountered significant delays during the planning permission process. Planning permission for the project was ultimately granted in April 2017. Following the granting of planning permission, changes to the stage 2b submission were necessary to include a number of changes to areas from planning conditions and the public works contracts to alterations to the Department of Education and Skills room layouts. An understanding of the impact of these changes was a requirement for the design team to carry out a significant level of work to redo drawings, layouts and schedules. The quantity surveyor also had to revisit all the measurements and quantities relating to the bill of quantities. There were other delays caused by issues with ESB International regarding the relocation of overhead power lines traversing the site, and a consequential delay in ensuring compliance with the requirements of the nearly zero energy building regulations.

Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael)
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I again thank the Minister of State for taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills. Perhaps he will pass on a couple of queries to the Minister. I welcome everything the Minister of State said. As stated earlier, I expect the school to be open before September 2021. I have identified the fact that the school is operating across three sites at present. That is key. PE classes will be very difficult because the site in Craddockstown is not large enough to cater for the PE needs of the school. I again thank Naas GAA for allowing its facilities to be used by the school. As for the possibility of all other subjects and classes being held on the one site, will the Department of Education and Skills approve sufficient funding to allow KWETB to procure or rent whatever classroom facilities it needs? My understanding at present - and it makes me nervous to say it - is that the Department of Education and Skills has decided not to grant KWETB the full number of classrooms required to take in the minimum number of 120 pupils for the year ahead and that we will still, next year and possibly the year after, have the problem that the school will be located across three sites. Can the Minister of State give me some detail as to how this procurement will be progressed and whether it will be in place in time for the start of the school year? I hope it will happen sooner rather than later.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I fully understand and appreciate the desire of the pupils, parents, staff and community of Naas to see their new school building completed as quickly as possible. I assure them that they can expect to see work on the new building over the coming weeks. I assure the House that KWETB, in close consultation with officials in the Department of Education and Skills, has done and is doing the utmost to progress this project as quickly as possible. In the meantime, it is progressing the additional temporary accommodation required to meet the school's needs until the new school building is ready. I look forward to seeing the community of Naas benefit from the provision of the community college over the next short number of years. By all means I will definitely take back to the Minister the concerns Senator Lawlor raised regarding funding, the three sites and the way in which procurement has been progressed. I will take those issues directly back to the Minister on behalf of the Senator and ask the Minister to liaise directly with the Senator on those specific issues.