Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1239. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress that has been made on the new build for the Irish-medium secondary school in Waterford city. [43704/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy has recently been approved to progress to Stage 2(b) of Architectural Planning – Detailed Design, where all statutory approvals are secured, and the suite of tender documents are prepared.

This major project is being delivered under the Department of Education’s ADAPT Programme.

The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Programme Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of Architectural Planning and on to Tender and Construction.

The brief for this project will provide new school accommodation for 300 pupils and accommodation for children with special educational needs on a green-field site.

The Design Team are preparing to lodge the application for planning permission for the preferred design option for the new school building with the Local Authority in the coming weeks. The Design Team are also preparing to lodge their applications for a Fire Safety Certificate and Disability Access Certificate with the Local Authority.

Until all statutory applications have been secured, it will not be possible to provide an estimated-on site date.

Projects are subject to relevant due diligence by the Department at each stage in the process, within the context of overall programme and budgetary parameters. This will involve a review and analysis to be carried out by the Department in order to determine the optimum outputs to be achieved from the NDP allocation with a strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and in relation to project delivery ensuring a continued focus on affordability, value for money and functionality.