Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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76. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the selection of a site and construction of a new school building for a school (details supplied). [13887/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has reached Agreement in Principle with Clare County Council for the acquisition of a permanent site to accommodate the school referred to by the Deputy.

The conveyancing stage of the acquisition process is at an advanced stage.

Due to commercial and legal sensitivities associated with site acquisitions generally, I am not in a position to provide further details at this time.

The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which is being delivered under the National Development Plan.

The accommodation brief for the project is for the development of an 8 classroom primary school, plus two classrooms for children with special educational needs, including the removal of existing temporary accommodation from the site, the construction of a new school building and all associated site works.

This major building project for Ennis Educate Together National School is being delivered under the Department’s ADAPT Programme. ADAPT is an acronym for the "Accelerated Delivery of Architectural Planning and Tendering" and uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of Architectural Planning, to Tender and Construction

The Project Manager has been appointed and currently anticipates that the tender process for the design team appointments for a bundle of projects, which includes the Ennis Educate Together National School project, will commence in Q3 2023.

The Department and Project Manager will advise the school authorities of further developments as they are progressed.

The current status of all large-scale projects being delivered under Project Ireland 2040, may be viewed on my Department's website (www.gov.ie/en/service/c5b56b-major-projects/). This information is updated regularly.

I want to reassure the Deputy of my commitment to the progression and delivery of this new school building as quickly as possible.

My Department has a strong track record in the delivery of school building projects with a pipeline of 1300 projects in progress at any one time. In 2022, despite pressures on many fronts, we delivered on our commitments in the National Development Plan and Government invested approximately €1.1b in school capital projects.