Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to advise the Deputy that approval under the Additional School Accommodation scheme issued to the school in question for the provision of three special classrooms and ancillary accommodation.

The project is being delivered under the Department’s Devolved SEN Reconfiguration and Modular Accommodation programme. This programme provides project management supports to enable the accommodation to be provided as quickly as possible and helps to ease the administrative workload for individual schools in relation to the management and delivery of the project.

Kerrigan Sheanan Newman Construction Consultants (KSN) has been appointed, from the Department’s Framework, to design and tender the project. This consultant is leading the project through the various stages of planning process and construction. The School Authority has devolved responsibility for delivery of this project.

My Department is fully aware of the urgency in respect of this accommodation and will be working with the school to keep it updated on overall project delivery and timelines. It is expected that the first phase (classroom accommodation) will reach practical completion in December allowing pupils to access the classroom with the second phase (external works) currently programmed to reach practical completion in January 2024. The project manager is in frequent contact with the School Authority regarding programme timelines. I also wish to advise that t is a matter for the school authority to recruit sufficient teachers to fill the teaching posts approved by my Department and this should not be impacted by the capital project.