Written answers
Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Department of Education and Skills
Schools Building Projects
Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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992. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the construction of a school (details supplied); and the projected timelines for completion. [40791/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy will deliver a new 750 pupil post primary school with accommodation and 4 classrooms for children with special educational needs at Gorey, Co Wexford.
The project will be delivered under my Department's ADAPT Programme which uses a professional external Programme Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Integrated Project Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of Architectural Planning, to Tender and Construction.
This ADAPT 4 Programme – Programme Innovate will be led by Integrated Project Teams (IPT’s), consisting of highly skilled and experienced design professionals, architects, engineers, project managers, quantity surveyors and various other consultants to deliver the projects.
AECOM as the Programme Manager are overseeing the procurement and appointment of the IPT’s. The procurement process to appoint the IPT for the tranche of projects which includes this project has been concluded. The IPT have now commenced the first stage of Architectural Planning - Stage 1 - Preliminary Design (assessment of site and location suitability, and initial sketch scheme).
It will not be possible to provide a timeframe for the progression of the project to tender and construction stages until such time as the necessary statutory approvals have been secured. Further details regarding my Departments' capital programme will be published in Autumn 2025.
My Department will keep the school and patron body informed of the progression of this project through the stages of architectural planning.
Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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993. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the construction of a school (details supplied); and the projected timelines for completion. [40792/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The project referred to by the Deputy is devolved for delivery to Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board (WWETB).
The project brief is to provide an extension to the existing school building, as well as the appropriate refurbishment of those existing buildings to be retained for ongoing educational use.
The project is currently at Stage 2b of the architectural process, which allows for detailed design/planning, obtaining the necessary statutory permissions and the preparation of tender documents. Once this process is complete, it will progress to Tender Stage and onwards to construction in due course.
While at this early stage it is not possible to provide a timeline for completion of the project. WWETB will be engaging directly with the school authority to keep it informed of progress.
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.
Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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994. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the construction of the redevelopment and extension of a school (details supplied); and the projected timelines for completion. [40793/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The project referred to by the Deputy has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects.
The brief for the project is to provide a new build replacement school for a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils including a 4 class SEN base.
The project is currently at Stage 2b (post planning process) of the architectural process which allows for detailed design and planning, obtaining the necessary statutory permissions and the preparation of tender documents.?When this stage has been finalised and approved, the next stage is tendering for a contractor and then onwards to construction in due course.
While at this early stage it is not possible to provide a timeline for completion of the project, the NDFA will be engaging directly with the school authorities to keep them fully informed of progress. The length of time a project takes to deliver depends on several factors, including scale and complexity and is subject to the time it takes to progress through the various design stages and the statutory approval process.
The Department is committed to ensuring appropriate accommodation is available for the pupils in Coláiste Bhríde and will in the wider context outlined, ensure that this project - as for all projects on our school building programme - is subject to the due diligence required under the Public Infrastructure Guidelines.
The current status of all projects is listed on a county-by-county basis at . 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.
Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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995. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the construction of a school (details supplied); and the projected timelines for completion. [40794/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The project to which the Deputy refers is part of a school campus project at Kilbride, Co. Wicklow. It has been devolved for delivery to Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB).
The project was authorised by the Department to proceed to Stage 3 (tender stage) in November 2024. The Stage 3 Tender Report has been recently submitted to the Department and is under review. Once this report is reviewed and approved, the project will progress to construction in due course.
It is not possible at this time to give a date for completion of the project. However, KWETB will continue to engage directly with the school authority to keep it fully informed of all progress.
The Department is committed to ensuring appropriate accommodation is available for the pupils in Gaelscoil an Inbhir Mhóir and will in the wider context outlined, ensure that this project - as for all projects on our school building programme - is subject to the due diligence required under the public Infrastructure Guidelines.
The current status of all projects is listed on a county-by-county basis at . 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.
Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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996. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the extension of a school (details supplied); and the projected timelines for completion. [40795/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The school to which the deputy refers has been granted capital funding for the provision of three mainstream classrooms, three Special Education Tuition rooms and the reconfiguration of existing accommodation to provide one Special Educational Needs classroom, Quiet space, Multi-activity room and Central activities space under my Department’s Devolved SEN Reconfiguration and Modular Accommodation programme.
This programme involves the use of Project Management supports which is designed to enable the accommodation to be provided as quickly as possible and help ease the administrative workload for school authorities in relation to the management and delivery of projects.
Kerrigan Sheanon Newman Project Management (KSN) Project Management have been appointed, from my Department’s Framework, to design and tender the project and oversee all elements of construction.
A statutory grant of planning permission was received in July 2025 for the proposed brief. The project has now progressed to pre-construction stage which involves development of site surveys, detailed design and cost report. On completion of this stage construction is expected to commence in August 2025 with a projected tentative timeline for completion of the full project in Q2 2026.
The Department is fully aware of the urgency in respect of this accommodation and will be working closely with the Project Managers and School Authority to keep it updated on overall project delivery and timelines.
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