Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

20. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress being made with the Colleges of the Future initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13985/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Further Education and Training (FET) College of the Future Major Projects Fund was launched to address existing deficits in FET infrastructure, to support projects that drive reform of the FET sector and to facilitate consolidation and integration of further education and training.

In September 2024 following an evaluation process, six proposals met the relevant criteria and were approved to move to the next stage of development, the Pre-tender – Project Design, Planning and Procurement Strategy Stage. These were proposals from Cork ETB (Bishopstown), Cavan Monaghan ETB (Cavan Town), Kilkenny Carlow ETB (Kilkenny City), Kildare Wicklow ETB (Bray), Limerick Clare ETB (Newcastle West) & Tipperary ETB (Clonmel). SOLAS continues to engage with these six ETBs around further developing their proposals and associated schedules of accommodation. Work has also begun on the development of standardised procurement and tender documents as part of this stage of development.

The next round of evaluations under the Further Education and Training (FET) College of the Future Major Projects Fund is scheduled to take place during the first week of April 2025, where a further number of submitted business cases will be evaluated. A further evaluation will be convened later in the year for those ETBs who are unable to meet the April deadline.

The FET College of the Future Major Projects Fund is the first ever significant major capital programme call for the FET sector and I and my department remain committed to delivering these key projects for the sector.