Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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120. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the schools building programme at schools (details supplied); if these projects have been stalled due to capital funding constraints; if so, the implications this will have on project costs and delivery; how and when she will address this delay; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13108/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department progressed 8 Design & Build (D&B) projects (Lots 1 & 2) to construction in 2021, with a further 10 projects (Lots 3, 4  & 5) progressed to construction in Summer 2022. A further 10 projects (Lot 6) are due to proceed to tender shortly.

All of these projects are tendered to my Department’s current D&B Contractors Framework. It will be 2024 before the next scheduled bundle of projects (Lot 7) can be tendered to that framework and into late 2024 before further projects could proceed to tender.

In order to have projects delivered at the earliest possible opportunity, my Department is of the view that the intervening period can be utilised to bring a number of projects with planning permission, including the project for the schools referred to by the Deputy, to the level of employer-led design with a Design Team assigned to do so under the supervision of my Department’s project manager. This will ensure that such projects do not have to await capacity on the current framework to proceed to tender but rather can be progressed and actioned over that timeframe to tender outside of the D&B framework.

It is envisaged that this will also serve to broaden the range and number of Contractors to which such projects can be tendered than would hitherto have been possible within the Design & Build Framework. This forms part of my Department’s ongoing strategic approach to seek to widen the pool of Contractors tendering for school building projects.

My Department’s Project Manager will be tasked with appointing Design Teams to these projects from my Department’s newly established Frameworks of Consultants with the expectation that these projects could then proceed to tender in early to mid-2024.