Seanad debates
Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Schools Building Projects
12:00 pm
Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Our next Commencement matter is in the name of Senator Tim Lombard regarding Ballinspittle National School. It is a lovely part of the world. I was there at the weekend. The Senator has four minutes.
Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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The Acting Chair should have told me as I would have met him.
It is great to have the Minister of State in the Chamber. I am discussing the issue of Ballinspittle National School, one which I have continuously raised since I entered the Seanad. We have been looking for a new school since 2018 and the timelines are quite frightening. In June 2018, a design brief was approved for this and it has being going through different stages from stage 1, 2, 2A and 2B. Last year, we received information that it was going to tender in April 2023 but we have been trying to work out where we are since then. At the moment, we are looking at the bizarre scenario where we have children who came into junior infants who will not see the new school by the time it is finished due to the time it is taking to deliver this project. It started in 2018 and has worked all the way through.
It is a significant project involving 12 classrooms. There are special education rooms as well. There are only 200 students in this school and it has a very committed management team who work really hard to make sure the school provides great education in Ballinspittle. However, the real issue is the timeline and the time delays in particular.We have been looking for movement on this project since the new school was first mooted. There have been significant delays, including due to Covid and everything else in between. We are looking for an update on the tender process. This is my fourth time raising this national school in the Chamber. It is a really dynamic part of the world and it needs to get the educational campus that the majority of the villages around it have received in recent years. There have been significant school developments in recent years in places like Kilbrittain, Nohoval and, in particular, Kinsale, but, unfortunately, this village and parish have not seen any development, which they have been seeking for so long. The principal has done so much in respect of this matter.
I hope the Minister of State will give me an outline of where he thinks the tender process is and the timeline for a new school. My understanding was that the tender process should take six months and after that a new school would be delivered within a 20-month period on the campus. I realise that the build is very complicated because the work will happen while educational activities are ongoing. The construction process has been split. We need to get moving and to get a date and timeline for when the school will be delivered on the ground.
Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Lombard for raising this very important matter in regard to Ballinspittle National School. I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Education, who is unable to attend.
Since 2020, the Department of Education has invested in the region of €4.5 billion in schools throughout the country, involving the completion of more than 800 school building projects, with construction currently under way on approximately 300 other projects, including 31 new school buildings. The 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of more than €1.2 billion. This is a record level of investment in schools and highlights the Government's very strong track record of delivery in providing additional capacity and modern facilities for school communities. There are also approximately 90 projects currently at the tender stage, including a further 28 new school buildings. All of these new school buildings are flagship projects in their area and transform the education infrastructure for those school communities.
As part of the supplementary budget in 2023, €405 million in additional capital funding was provided for the school building programme. This helped to alleviate capital funding pressures that arose in 2023. These pressures reflect the strong delivery by the Department of Education of school building projects, including to support additional school places aligned with housing growth, special education provision, and also the accommodation of students from Ukraine in the school system. This is a significant roll-out of the school building programme that is being delivered in a challenging construction sector environment.
The Department of Education's overall capital outturn for 2023 was €1.264 billion. The major building project for Ballinspittle National School is included in the Department's construction programme, which is being delivered under the national development plan. The project brief is a completion contract for a new 12-classroom school and three classrooms for children with special educational needs and ancillary accommodation, together with all associated site works.
The invitation to tender issued in April 2023. Recent experience has demonstrated that a tender stage can take between eight and 12 months from the initial invitation to tender, subject to no issues arising. A tender report has been received from Ballinspittle board of management and the design team, and is currently under review by the Department. Following this stage, a letter of intent will be issued to the successful contractor and subsequently, there is a minimum 14-day standstill period before a letter of acceptance can be issued. Only when the letter of acceptance has issued is there a contract in place and all the contract terms and conditions apply. The due diligence by the Department is a critical part of the overall completion of the stage 3 process and is critical to ensuring quality and value for money, and that projects are progressed within overall programme parameters. It is estimated that it will take approximately 22 months to complete the Ballinspittle National School project.
Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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I raised this Commencement debate last April and I got an interesting response regarding the tender process. There is a real slip in the timelines outlined. Last April, I was told that it would take six to eight months for the tender process to happen. Today, I am told it will take eight to 12 months. For some reason, the timeline for the tender process has slipped in comparison with what was outlined in the Commencement debate on this matter 12 months ago. At that time, I was also informed that it would take 20 months for the construction process. This has now slipped to 22 months. That is the core issue.We started this project in 2018. Kids who went to that school on their first day will not see the new school finished because of the timelines. When you have slippages, months become years and years become people's lives when they are waiting for a new school to be delivered on the ground. We need the Department to issue the tender papers, to approve the tender and get the letter of acceptance out to the contractors. The way the market is going at the moment, prices will only go one way. The longer we wait, the higher it gets. I estimate that, from where we were in 2018 when this was mooted, the cost of this school has probably doubled. That is a significant issue. Timelines are killing us with projects like this. I appreciate that we have had huge investment, but we cannot have the slippages we have seen. The Minister might come back and let me know when the letter of intent will be issued from the Department so that we can get boots on the ground.
Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I again thank Senator Lombard for raising this important issue of Ballinspittle national school. I will go back to the Minister for Education about the timelines, specifically the tender process and the 22-month construction process. I will raise the Senator's concerns relating to his commencement last April where he pointed out the slippage of the timelines. I will ask the Minister to reply directly to the Senator.