Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 250: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the position in regard to the provision of classroom accommodation at a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; if she has received the stage one and two submission; if a subsequent meeting has taken place or will be arranged with the school authorities and design team to evaluate same; when authorisation of the project to progress to the next stages of architectural planning will be given; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11011/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The permanent School Building project referred to by the Deputy is at an early stage of architectural planning. My Department wrote to the Design Team on the project on the 20th September 2006 requesting a stage 1/2 submission (Outline sketch scheme with costings) and this submission is expected in my Department by the end of April this year.

When this stage 1/2 submission is received in my Department, my Officials will arrange a meeting with the School Authorities and their Design Team in order to evaluate the documentation. It is envisaged that unless there are very exceptional circumstances involved, the meeting will be sufficient to authorise the project to progress to the next stages of architectural planning. Progression of all projects to tender and construction will be considered in the context of my Department's multi-annual School Building and Modernisation Programme.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 251: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the position in regard to the provision of permanent classroom accommodation at a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; if her Department has received stage three documentation from the school authorities; her plans to progress this matter in the next six months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11012/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The building project for the School referred to by the Deputy was one of the sixty two projects that I announced to start the architectural planning process in January of 2006 and to proceed to tender and construction as per my announcement of November 2006.

The brief for the project consists of a 16 classroom Generic Repeat Design with an additional bolt-on Special Education Tuition room. A Design Team was appointed on the project in July last year and, following a briefing seminar in my Department's Offices in Tullamore, the Design Team were instructed to proceed to stage 3 (detailed design with costings) of my Department's Design Team Procedures. The stage 3 documentation is now awaited and when this is received in my Department, my Officials will, if necessary, arrange a meeting with the School Authorities and their Design Team in order to evaluate the documentation.

Once the stage 3 is approved, the new School building project will proceed, in accordance with the School Building and Modernisation Programme 2007-2011, to advanced design and subsequently to tender and construction.