Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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67. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a school building project (details supplied) did not commence construction in 2016 or 2017. [22445/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Any school building project must first complete the design stages of architectural planning before progressing to the tender and construction stages.

The school referred to by the Deputy will be part of a shared campus. The building project will deliver a new Post Primary school and a new special school building.

The project is in Stage 2a (Developed Design Stage) of architectural planning. A Stage 2(a) Stakeholders meeting was held in February at which a number of additional changes to the infrastructure were requested. Further clarification was sought and has since been received from the schools Design Team. This information is currently under review by my Department.

Planning permission for this particular project was sought earlier than usual in the architectural planning process, during stage 2(a) as a means to identify any potential issues which might arise. When all outstanding items are addressed the project will be authorised to progress to Stage 2b (Detailed Design Stage).