John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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107. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the appointment of a building contractor and the expected start date for construction works on a new school building (details supplied) in County Dublin. [10220/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Responsibility for the delivery of the school referred to by the Deputy has been devolved to the Office of Public Works (OPW).

Following a recent tender competition the OPW has issued a "Letter of Intent" to the apparently successful tenderer. Construction works will commence on site as quickly as possible.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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108. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the planning process for proposed extension to two schools (details supplied) in County Dublin, including on foot of recent meetings between his Department and the schools. [10221/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The major building project for the schools referred to by the Deputy is completing stage 2(a) of architectural planning. My Department held the Stage 2(a) Stakeholders meeting recently with the Boards of Management and their Design Team. Following this meeting the Design Team are working on an addendum report in order to clarify a number of points. Upon satisfactory completion of this report, the project will be progressed to Stage 2(b) which includes applications for Planning Permission, Fire Safety Certification, Disability Access Certification and the preparation of tender documents. Due to competing demands on the Department's capital budget imposed by the need to prioritise the limited funding available for the provision of additional school accommodation to meet increasing demographic requirements it was not possible to include this project in the 5 year construction programme announced in March 2012.

School building projects, including the project referred to by the Deputy, which were previously initiated but not included in the current five year construction programme will continue to be progressed to final planning stages in anticipation of the possibility of further funds being available to the Department in the future.