Vol. 448 No. 6
18 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Education the approximate date for the commencement of work on the proposed new community school in Ballyshannon, County Donegal; if it will be open to receive students in September 1997; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2586/95]
I hope that construction of the proposed new community school in Ballyshannon will start early in 1996. On this basis the school would be ready for occupation by September 1997. This timetable is subject to the satisfactory completion of architectural planning.
The meeting of management took place this time last year and the outline sketch received in June still has not been made available to management. When will it be available so that we can proceed with the next phase of planning?
The planning and building unit received an informal outline sketch from the consultant architect in November 1994.
The outline sketch was agreed by management and forwarded to the Department, but the Department's observations have not been made available to management. Will the Minister say when those will be given? Will she say whether the issues of the circulation system and adequacy of the PE hall will be addressed by the Department?
The building unit received the informal outline sketch in November 1994. Following examination by the building unit's senior architect a number of proposals for improving, inter alia, the circulation system in the scheme submitted were conveyed to the consultant architect for consideration. A revised sketch design was recently submitted for approval by the Department and is currently being examined. If the sketch is found to be acceptable to the Department it will be issued to the informal liaison forum, the representatives of all the schools involved in the amalgamation, for their information and observation. I will make further inquiries into the matter for the Deputy because I am aware that this project goes back to the 1980s.
