Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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135. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason an arrangement has been put in place for bundle five PPP schools that sets a limit of 300 hours for the availability of the school after 6 p.m. in the evening; the names and locations of schools built under PPP with such an arrangement; the extent to which these arrangements apply to the main school building; and if separate arrangements apply to playing pitches and other school facilities. [42839/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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In the schools PPP projects, a PPP company is contracted to provide a range of services at the schools, including caretaking, fire safety, security, cleaning and maintenance, during the standard school year, typically between 8am and 6pm.  The PPP company’s contract price also includes an allowance for such services to be provided at the discretion of the school principal for out of hours activities (i.e. after 6 pm), including  the use of pitches and external facilities. 

On the Schools PPP Bundle 5 project this allowance is 350 hours which is typical across the PPP schools projects.  This is a standard feature of all PPP schools contracts that aims to achieve a balance between the availability of the school facilities outside of normal school hours and value for money in the PPP contract price. 

In addition, access to schools is generally available at all times to the school principal and school employees.

There are currently 32 schools operating in the PPP model, details of which are provided in the table at the link.  For completeness, it should be noted that a Further Education College was also delivered as part of the Schools Bundle 5 project.

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