Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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2017.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when a proposed building project will proceed to the next stage (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter.[35985/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that over the course of 2023, Cavan Monaghan ETB (CMETB) were supported by SOLAS in developing their Preliminary Business Case (PBC) proposal for Cavan town under the FET College of the Future Major Projects fund. The development of a robust PBC is fundamental to the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines. The proposal put forward by CMETB is one of twelve projects that are currently being progressed under this fund.

SOLAS and officials from my department met with all twelve ETBs including CMETB, in April and May of this year, to discuss their proposals in the context of affordability, value for money and relevant regional and national FET policy objectives.

On the 2nd of September, a number of ETBs including CMETB submitted their updated business cases for evaluation. These business cases are currently being evaluated and this process is expected to conclude in the coming weeks.

Following shortly after the evaluation process, proposals that meet the evaluation criteria will be announced to advance to the next stage of development, which is the Pre-Tender – Project Design, Planning and Procurement Strategy stage.

I would like to add that my department in 2023 also provided significant investment in Cavan Institute. The Deputy will be aware that in order to address interim accommodation needs, my Department approved the acquisition and fit out of a substantial modular unit for CMETB, facilitating the opening of the new Education and Training Facility for Cavan Institute at its FET Campus in September 2023. This facility gives 300 students access to a range of PLC programmes which will offer state of the art facilities for students and staff and allow for the further growth of Cavan Institute.