Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

203. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 126 of 2 October 2019, the status of acquiring a site; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46543/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will be aware that a project to provide permanent accommodation for St. Teresa's Special School is included in my Department's school building programme to be delivered as part of the National Development Plan. In order to facilitate this project the acquisition of a permanent site is required. Unfortunately this has proven challenging to date and the proposed acquisition of an identified site proved unsuccessful, despite my Department's best efforts.

I can confirm an alternative potential permanent site option for St Teresa's Special School has since been identified. As part of our standard general procedures, a technical site assessment is undertaken and this would include the full range of factors which might affect the deliverability and feasibility of the site in question. This assessment is underway at present. Due to the commercially sensitive nature of site acquisitions generally, it is not possible to comment further at this stage.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

204. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has considered a review of the school building projects that have been at stage 2b for a significant amount of time (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46579/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Project Progress Reports relevant to school major building projects are required to be submitted to the Department on a monthly basis. In accordance with the Design Team Procedures, the Design Team leader has a particular responsibility to provide monthly reports to both the Board of Management and the Department on progress against the programme and to provide ongoing monthly reports during construction.

In cases where monthly progress reports are not being submitted as requested, project updates are sought by my Department on a regular basis from Design Team Leaders. Accordingly, there is an on-going review of projects currently at Stage 2(b).

Where projects take longer than expected to progress through Stage 2(b), they have generally experienced planning difficulties due to a complicated or detailed planning application, appeals to An Board Pleanála, complications around decant arrangements or site issues. In other cases, there have been unavoidable changes to the brief or scope of the project.

Ensuring that new school buildings are Near Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in compliance with the 2017 amendment to Part L of the current Building Regulations which in many cases involved a second planning application to allow for the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roof following receipt of the initial planning permission has over the past year, meant that some school building projects have undergone a longer than normal Stage 2(b) process.

In addition, since November 2018, a number of competitions to pre-qualify have been challenged in the High Court leading to the need to completely redraft the procedures and processes involved in pre-qualification. This has impacted on projects which were not themselves subject to a direct challenge.

I am glad to report that four major school building projects that were at Stage 2B for a considerable period of time have recently been progressed to the next stage of architectural planning, Stage 3 - Tender Stage.