Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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69. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she can clarify, in relation to delays with certain school building projects, when a project is at the stage where a tender report is under review by her Department; if consideration is given during this review of the possibility of builders or other contractors pulling out of the project because of protracted delays; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22846/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has a proven track record of delivery, with over 180 projects completed last year within a challenging construction sector environment of high inflation, labour shortages and supply chain issues. This year alone, in excess of 300 school building projects are currently under construction, including 40 new school buildings and 260 projects at existing schools.

Under Project Ireland 2040, we are investing €4.4 billion over the period 2021 to 2025, to add capacity and develop and upgrade school facilities across the country for the almost one million students and over 100,000 staff that learn and work in our schools every day.

Key priorities for my Department are supporting the operation of the school system and adding necessary capacity to cater for special education needs provision, mainstream demographics and catering for students from Ukraine and other countries under the International Protection system.

As you are aware, an agreement was secured with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in recent weeks to guarantee and support the rollout and continuation of my Department’s ambitious school building programme. The agreement reached on 5th April is facilitating the continued rollout of urgently required school building projects in both mainstream and special education settings, including the 58 projects that were temporarily paused due to capital funding pressures.

Officials from my Department have updated each of the 58 schools in relation to the formal arrangements and next steps in respect of the delivery of their individual projects.

The current status of all projects is listed on a county by county basis at www.gov.ie and is updated on a regular basis to reflect their progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.

The impact of inflation on tenders for school building projects has been seen throughout the latter half of 2021, across 2022 and to date in 2023. This has been particularly acute since the invasion of Ukraine.

My Department is working proactively to ensure that all school building contracts are awarded and progressed as expeditiously as possible, while working within the parameters set by the Office of Government Procurement and principles of public procurement set out at both national and EU level.

Project Management and procurement by its nature can be detailed and complex and my Department is very conscious of the need to support the school system with good procurement guidance and arrangements to facilitate strong National Development Plan rollout.

In this regard, my Department has a suite of consultant and contractor frameworks in place to support the rollout of school building projects. This is also supported through professional support for key delivery partners such as Education and Training Boards and other stakeholders in the form of Project Manager and Buildings Officer resources.