Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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668. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the progress on school building projects and the projected completion dates for schools in Dublin mid-west (details supplied). [58038/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Divine Mercy JNS & SNS:

This joint school building project will deliver a new extension and refurbishment of some existing accommodation to provide a 24 classroom primary school with classrooms for children with special educational needs, at both schools.

The joint major building project is currently at an advanced stage of Architectural Planning - Stage 2(b) - Detailed Design, which includes the application for statutory approvals, to include the Disability Access Certificate (DAC), Fire Safety Cert (FSC) and planning permission along with the preparation of tender documents and an accurate pre-tender cost plan.

The schedule of accommodation was recently reviewed and subsequently increased to include additional accommodation for children with Special Educational Needs. The Design Team submitted their amended design options to include the increased accommodation to the Department for review which is currently ongoing. This is a detailed process subject to the Department's due diligence.

A meeting of all stakeholders is anticipated to be held once the review has been completed, to discuss and agree a preferred option which can be further developed and prepared to be submitted for planning permission.

St Thomas JNS & Scoil Áine SNS:

The joint school building project will deliver two new 24 classroom primary schools with accommodation for children with special educational needs, at the current site in Lucan.

The project is currently at an early stage of Architectural Planning Stage 1 – Initial Sketch Scheme. A preferred design option has been agreed by all Stakeholders and following a request by my Department for additional information from the Design Team, the stage 1 report was received by my Department in May 2025 and is currently under review.

Lucan Community College:

The large scale capital project at the school referred to by the Deputy will deliver accommodation for 1000 pupils, including provision for Special Education Needs (SEN) classrooms. The project is at an advanced stage of Architectural Planning Stage 3 - Tender Action and Award.

With respect to this major project, certain issues arose during the procurement process, and the requirement to carefully manage the capital programme within constrained capital funding caused significant delays in completing the overall procurement process. More than four years has elapsed since the publication of the contract notice and more than two years since the tender submission deadline. Given the passage of time since tenders were returned an unacceptably high risk that the contract may not successfully be delivered within budget has been identified. On that basis, DDLETB has made the decision to collapse the tender procedure.

DDLETB intends to issue a new procurement process for this project in due course.

Department officials will continue to work closely with DDLETB on the progression of the project.

St Kevin's Community College: There is currently no major project ongoing for the school referred to by the Deputy. In respect of the schools existing accommodation, an Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) application was submitted by the school for works associated with universal accessibility. A tender report was recently received from the school and the EWS area is engaging with the school regarding some additional information on this report. The EWS area is aware of the urgent nature of the works required and will continue to support the school in this regard.