Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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380. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of times she has met her officials in relation to a project (details supplied); and if there is a definitive timeline established for construction. [3254/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The school building project referred to by the Deputy is being delivered under my Department’s Design and Build Programme. I engage regularly with officials in respect of the School Building Program.

On 14 June 2021, this project was included in a bundle of projects which were tendered to a newly established Design & Build Contractors Framework. The tenders were returned on 27 October 2021 and the tender assessment report from the Department's Project Manager has been recently received by the Department and is currently under review. It is anticipated that the Letter of Intent to appoint the Building Contractor will issue in the coming weeks in Quarter 1.

Once a Contractor has been appointed, my Department will keep the school informed of the construction programme underpinning the contract.

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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381. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if high-efficiency particle arrestor filters will be installed as standard during the construction of the new school in Cahir, County Tipperary which will see the amalgamation of a school (details supplied); if consideration will be given to the provision of such filters in all new school builds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3264/22]

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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392. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there are plans to install a HEPA filtration system in the new primary school being built in Cahir. County Tipperary. [3406/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 381 and 392 together.

Managing ventilation is just one of a suite of public health measures in place to keep our schools safe. Updated guidance for schools on Practical Steps for the Deployment of Good Ventilation Practices in Schools was provided at the end of May following the work of an expert group that carefully considered the role of ventilation in managing Covid-19. The updated guidance for schools is also fully in line with the most recent guidance on non-healthcare building ventilation during Covid-19, published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre November 2021.

To provide additional support in the context of Covid-19 the payment of a minor works grant totalling €45m for primary schools and special schools, plus a once-off Covid-19 minor works funding of €17 million for post-primary schools, was issued in December 2021. All schools in the free scheme have received their grants. To date three applications from fee charging schools have been received, these are being assessed.

With respect to the design of ventilation in new schools, each school project is different and required to be analysed on an individual project basis based on the specific site conditions, the height of the school building, the internal and external geometry, the configuration of the spaces, the different elevations and the different orientations.

Design teams for each project are required to fully evaluate their proposed ventilation strategy and develop a dynamic simulation model based on their proposed building design and knowledge and familiarity with the school specific project and site. The design team must use their developed dynamic simulation model to confirm that their design ventilation strategy complies with the building regulations, the Department’s technical guidance documents and that the design team’s window design and opening sections ensure that the resultant dry bulb temperature shall not exceed 25oC for more than 5% of the school year in all habitable rooms and teaching spaces and sufficient ventilation is achieved in the space for odour and CO2 dilution.