Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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117. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the provision of a permanent site for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23812/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The acquisition of the permanent site for the schools in question, (known locally as the “Glass Bottle” site) on the Goatstown Road, was completed by my Department in June 2019.

The zoning on the site reserves 60% of the site for "open space” – that is, it cannot be built upon. The overall site is circa 10 acres. My Department made a submission to the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Draft Development Plan 2022-28 in April 2021 seeking to have the zoning on the school site changed from Objective F Open Space to Objective SNI purposes (Sustainable Neighbourhood Infrastructure) ‘to protect, improve and encourage the provision of sustainable neighbourhood infrastructure’ which would have effectively removed the 60% open space requirement. However, this was unsuccessful.

The site will provide for a campus development of a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school and accommodation, including four classrooms, for children with special educational needs, and a new 16 classroom primary school and accommodation, including two classrooms, for children with special educational needs.

The project has been assigned to my Department’s Design & Build delivery programme. This delivery programme uses a professional external Project Manager to progress the project through the relevant stages of architectural planning, tender and construction.

A preplanning meeting with the Planning Department of the local authority was held on 23rd June 2021 to discuss the design proposals for the permanent school building project. Further clarification was sought from the local authority and all of these discussions will inform the plans for developing the planning application documentation.

The next key milestone for the project will be the submission of the planning application. It is not possible to provide a timeframe for the progression of the project to tender and construction stages until such time as the necessary statutory approvals have been secured.

My Department will continue to address the interim accommodation requirements for the schools and will continue to keep the patron body and the school community updated as the project progresses.