Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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155. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of a proposal for a school campus at the Commons on the Hazelhatch Road in Celbridge, County Kildare, and of the planning application made by the Kildare Wicklow Education and Training Board for a primary-secondary school campus at the site; the Department or other body that is currently dealing with this application and the related school campus proposal; if she is pursuing this site as the preferred site for the proposed school campus, notwithstanding the objections raised by the planning department of Kildare County Council and upheld by An Bord Pleanála to the training board's proposals; and if she has any other sites in mind for a primary or a secondary school on the Dublin Road, the Hazelhatch Road or the Newtown Road side of the Liffey in Celbridge. [43135/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Outline planning permission for a primary school on the site in question was granted by Kildare County Council in December 2009, and a subsequent application for outline permission for development of the site to include a post-primary school was granted in July 2010. A planning application for permanent school buildings on this site was subsequently refused by Kildare County Council on 11 December 2013 and this decision was upheld by An Bord Pleanála on 26 May 2014.

The site remains the Department's preferred site for the schools.

There have been extensive discussions with the Council concerning flood relief measures. In this regard, proposals from the Council involve extending the brief of a Department appointed project consultant to encompass a considerably broader assessment of flooding in the catchment area. If accepted by the Department, the proposals would broaden the scope of the assessment beyond the identification of what is required to designing, preparing a part eight planning tender and overseeing works. A number of factors prevent the adoption of these requests including non compliance with statutory procurement regulations and managing a process over lands that are not in the Department's control. These difficulties have been conveyed to the Council on a number of occasions.