Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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93. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the amount spent on improving the health and safety standards of each school impacted by the structural review of schools constructed by a company (details supplied); the estimated costs for the remaining schools to have work carried out; and the area from which his Department has obtained the moneys expended; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40751/19]

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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94. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if new builds and planned expansions to schools will be put on hold as a result of unexpected structural review costs in 2019; if plans will be put on hold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40752/19]

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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95. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the details of each school built by a company (details supplied) in the past ten years; the cost initially budgeted for each; the amount the project cost upon completion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40753/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 93 to 95, inclusive, together.

My Department’s overall capital budget increased by almost €200m between 2018 and 2019 (€745m to €941m).

This increased capital budget is facilitating extensions and new schools being delivered as part of the rollout of Project Ireland 2040 along with significant progress being made in relation to the schools remediation programme.

In relation to Project Ireland 2040 rollout, my Department publishes a monthly update on its website in relation to the progression of large-scale projects through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction. Updates in relation to smaller scale projects are published on a weekly basis. In summary, in the schools sector, the rollout of Project Ireland 2040 involved overall construction activity during 2018 and 2019 of circa 130 large scale projects ranging in value from €1m to projects in excess of €20m.There was also in excess of 280 projects with a project value less than €1m at construction during this period. All of these projects are expected to deliver more than 40,000 permanent (additional and replacement) school places. Typically, there are approximately 50 large scale projects delivered in a given year.

My Department also publishes regular updates in relation to the schools remediation programme. The last update was published on 14 August 2019. Significant progress was made during summer 2019 in relation to this programme. This facilitated precautionary measures being removed from 14 of the affected schools. The remainder of the schools remediation programme is scheduled to be undertaken on a phased basis over 2020 and 2021, primarily during the school holiday periods.

My Department continues to liaise with the Chief State Solicitor’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office on the on-going legal process related to the schools built by the contractor involved. Proceedings have issued in a number of schools to date. For legal reasons, my Department is not in a position to provide the costs for the remediation work at this time.

Contract cost information requested by the Deputy for projects carried out by the contractor over the last ten years is contained in the attachment to this response. Where final accounts are available, the difference between the contract sum and the final outturn is less than 10% in all cases.

Schools