Michael J Collins (Limerick West, Independent)
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Question 431: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will make a full statement on the establishment of the proposed new community college in Abbeyfeale, County Limerick. [40059/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The new community college in Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick has been included in the second bundle of Public Private Partnership projects which I announced last week and arises from the amalgamation of St Ita's College, Abbeyfeale, St. Joseph's Secondary School, Convent of Mercy, Abbeyfeale and Abbeyfeale Vocational School. When completed the new school will provide 850 student places and will ensure that post-primary students in Abbeyfeale will be able to access a broad subject range.

My Department's PPP Unit will immediately commence the pre-procurement process for this new project bundle and will shortly begin stakeholder meetings with each of the individual schools. The stakeholder meetings will include management, staff, pupils, parents, trade unions and other interested relevant local individuals or groups and will provide a detailed explanation of the PPP procurement process and the role of the individual schools in the bundled project.

Other tasks to be undertaken as part of the pre-procurement process include the preparation of Output Specifications in respect of each school in the bundle, preparation of the Public Services Benchmark and the completion of all statutory requirements. When these tasks are completed the project bundle will be handed over to the National Development Finance Agency who will procure the projects on behalf of my Department.