Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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115. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when site work will commence on a new special school project (details supplied); the timeline for completion of the project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41673/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The joint major building project for the 2 schools referred to by the Deputy is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning -Stage 2(b) – Detailed Design, where the design team secure all Statutory Applications and prepare the suite of tender documents.

All Statutory Approvals have been secured, and the Stage 2(b) Submission was received in the Department in Q3 2024, for review. Following a high level review, the Department's Professional and Technical Team have issued comments to the Design Team for their consideration, and the Design Team will make any necessary adjustments to the tender documents, and will advise my Department once the tender documents are amended.

In parallel, the Design team have also been authorised to begin the process of pre-qualification of contractors.

Upon completion of the pre-qualification process and final approval of the Stage 2(b) submission, the Department will inform the School Authorities and the Design Team of the progression of the major project to the next stage of Architectural Planning – Tender Award.

All Major Projects are subject to relevant due diligence by my Department at each stage in the process, within the context of overall programme and budgetary parameters.