Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

468. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason for the significant delay with the special four classroom extension progressing to tender for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12460/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, the school to which he refers was approved a school building project under the Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The project is being managed on a devolved basis by Louth & Meath Education and Training Board on behalf of the school authority and a design team was appointed for the project.

The project approved consists of the building of a 4 classroom Special Education Needs unit as an extension to the existing school building, secure hard & soft play areas, a sensory garden and associated works with the school's car park.

I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department has received a Stage 2b (post planning approval) report from the school. This report is currently being reviewed from both a technical and cost perspective in accordance with the requirements of the public Infrastructure Guidelines. This review is nearing completion and my Department will be in contact with LMETB directly once fully completed.

My Department has a strong track record of delivery of school building projects involving circa. 300 projects currently at construction including 34 new school buildings and over 800 projects completed since 2020 notwithstanding the wider construction sector environment of high inflation, labour shortages and supply chain issues. We continue to have a strong pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme. My Department has an overall pipeline of some 1300 projects across the school system. The current status of all projects is listed on a county-by-county basis at www.gov.ie and this is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction. Under Project Ireland 2040, we are investing over €5 billion during 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.

Last year, my Department received supplementary funding to help alleviate funding pressures which was reflective of my Department’s strong delivery of school building projects particularly to support mainstream provision accommodating Ukrainian students and special education needs provision. My Department also have a large modular accommodation programme delivering urgently needed school places. The Department has always operated a tightly prioritised approach to the school building programme, focused over recent years on the delivery of additional capacity where required, and this will continue to be the case. It is a challenging construction environment across all sectors (Education, Housing, Transport etc.) and my Department is also required to manage the timing, scope and cost of individual projects to remain within budgetary parameters for the overall programme – this involves constant review throughout the project life cycle. My Department is committed to ensuring appropriate accommodation is available for the pupils in Skerries Educate Together and will in the wider context outlined, ensure that the Skerries Educate Together project - as for all projects on our school building programme - is subject to the due diligence required under the public Infrastructure Guidelines.