Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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362. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if, in relation to a school extension (details supplied), which has been approved, she will intervene in the case and allow the school to go ahead and build a two-storey extension, which is the most suitable option. [14977/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The school referred by the Deputy has been approved to enter the Department's pipeline for school building projects, to provide one mainstream classroom and one special education teaching (SET) room under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme.

A Stage 1/2a report was submitted and reviewed from both a technical and cost perspective in accordance with the requirements of the public Infrastructure Guidelines. The Deputy will appreciate that all projects, including this one, undergo the necessary due diligence outlined in the public Infrastructure Guidelines. Furthermore, managing timing, scope, and cost is crucial to staying within budgetary limits for the overall programme.

The stage report submitted sought to expand the project which proposed a two-story building adding significant extra scope and costs to the initial brief. Following the initial review, comments were issued requesting the school to reconsider the layout as the department preferred a single-story option and recommending design improvements to the layout.

The school recently submitted an appeal on this matter, prompting a reassessment by my Department technical team. After review, it was confirmed that my departments initial recommendations remained. It is now the school’s responsibility along with their design team to proceed with the project in line with the original scope and recommendations.