Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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179. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of an application by a school (details supplied) for additional accommodation. [11909/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the school in question submitted an application to my Department for capital funding for additional accommodation.

The application will be assessed and a decision will be conveyed to the school authority as soon as the assessment process has been completed.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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180. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties being experienced by pupils attending a school (details supplied); if the site has been identified as a priority site by the school capital appraisal section; when the conveyancing process will commence; when it will be completed; and if it has been or will be passed to the major projects section. [11911/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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My Department is in the process of acquiring the site for a new building for the school to which the Deputy refers.  The conveyancing process is well advanced.

I can confirm that the project is at an advanced stage of architectural planning: the project is being progressed by the design team while conveyancing is being completed. The project is expected to shortly complete stage 2(b) of the architectural planning process. This is the final stage of the design process for any school.

The school's design team has indicated that it expects to complete stage 2(b) shortly and will then make its submission to my Department.  Once stage 2B has been completed, pre-qualification of building contractors takes place. Pre-qualification on average takes 2-3 months. Following pre-qualification, the tender process will then commence. The average length of the tender process is 7-8 months.

Construction is expected to commence in Quarter 3 of 2019.

A letter has recently issued to the school to explain timelines and the further steps of the project in detail.  My Department is fully committed to completing the project as soon as possible.