I thank the Chairman and apologise for the absence of Ms Kellaghan, who must deal with a personal issue. She is replaced by Mr. Larry McEvoy, technical manager of the developing areas unit. With the permission of the Chairman, I would like to share the time for opening remarks with my colleague, Mr Kevin McCarthy, regarding the new patron model.
The programme for Government commits the Department of Education and Science to establishing a developing areas unit which will liaise with local authorities, identify where new schools are needed and ensure that they are delivered in the fastest possible timeframe. Initial work on establishing and assigning dedicated staff to the developing areas unit began in the latter part of 2007 and it is now fully operational. The staffing complement has been built up progressively and it consists of a technical manager, Mr Larry McEvoy, a principal officer and 28 other administrative and technical staff.
On the basis of information available to the Department and taking account of the work of the Commission on School Accommodation, we estimate that we will need about 9,000 additional primary school places in the short term, most of them in the greater Dublin area. The committee will appreciate that acquiring sites and providing this level of school accommodation in multiple locations in a short period of time is a challenging exercise requiring a high level of co-ordination and planning. Some of the work involved had already been under way prior to the establishment of the developing areas unit. However, the unit has enabled us to target our resources in a more concentrated way to greater effect.
In terms of the work programme for 2008, the developing areas unit is advancing with major school accommodation projects in the following areas: Skerries, Swords, Balbriggan, Phoenix Park, Porterstown, Lusk, Tyrellstown and Phibblestown in the Fingal County Council area; in Belmayne in the Dublin City Council area; in Clonburris, Saggart and Newcastle in the South Dublin County Council area; in Newbridge, Naas, Maynooth, Celbridge and Athy in Kildare; in Ashbourne, Duleek and Dunboyne in Meath; in Kinnegad and Mullingar in Westmeath; and in Enniscorthy and Gorey in Wexford. There are also projects in Cork, Laois, Offaly, Louth, Carlow and Wicklow.
The building projects equate to 22 permanent eight-classroom schools and 17 temporary eight-classroom schools. Included in this will be projects to provide accommodation for primary schools under the patronage of the County Dublin Vocational Education Committee, which will be covered by Mr. McCarthy. These projects, when taken with a number of other projects in developing areas involving extensions to existing schools, will provide approximately 9,000 additional school places for September 2008. The Department will also continue to provide additional and upgraded school places in other areas under the school modernisation programme.
To deliver our programme, the developing areas unit has been working closely with relevant local authorities on the acquisition of sites and on general pre-planning issues. To give one example of the level of co-operation with the local authorities, in the Fingal area we have established a joint project steering group of technical people with Fingal County Council. The purpose of this group is to co-ordinate the acquisition of sites under the Fingal school model, to resolve pre-planning issues and to ensure that the programme of school provision is on target. In view of the importance of the programme, I have attended most of the meetings of this group.
The project managers, together with architectural, engineering and quantity surveying services, were recruited from the private sector in October 2007 to prepare the planning applications, undertake the necessary surveys and oversee the delivery of the schools on each site. Sites for each of the projects have been identified and site masterplans have been developed by the technical teams.
We are required to undergo the EU tendering process and this has been completed for a drawdown contract for the permanent and temporary accommodation. The closing date was 2 January 2008 and planning applications have been lodged for all of the schools, apart from two which will be lodged by tomorrow and one further which is to be lodged shortly thereafter. The successful tenders for the construction of each individual project have been notified and at this stage the programme is on target.
Our aim, where possible, is to put permanent solutions in place on a phased basis to meet the immediate September 2008 primary school accommodation need with a second phase to follow as required. Permanent solutions are possible where a permanent site has been secured; otherwise, we must provide temporary accommodation.
The funding requirement for the developing areas programme of work in 2008 will be in the region of €180 million and this investment will be dedicated towards meeting the building and site costs involved. While substantial progress has been made on the implementation of the delivery plan, I caution that there are still hurdles and potential obstacles to be overcome. The critical factors include securing planning permission, particularly in light of potential third-party objections. We can no longer take it for granted that there will be no third party objections to schools. It is unfortunately becoming more frequent and must be dealt with.
We must achieve tight timeframes when construction begins, a matter that can be dealt with by Mr. McEvoy. Adverse site conditions and the completion of legal formalities relating to site transfer must also be considered. The ongoing involvement and co-operation of local authorities has been of major assistance to the Department in this process. We are also engaging in advance with the utility providers such as the ESB, Bord Gais and Eircom to ensure that the vital services are provided on time and that potential delays are avoided.
Looking towards our medium to long-term plans, there will be an accommodation requirement in the north Dublin area alone in the period to 2011, and beyond, of approximately 16,000 school places. We use a range of sources to determine accommodation needs, including the Central Statistics Office, local authorities and information from the schools. The investment required in north Dublin to progress the delivery of these additional places will be substantial. The recent census showed a population increase in Fingal of 22%, compared with 8% nationally, and projections for north Dublin show the population continuing to rise up to 2011 and beyond.
Other rapidly developing areas where permanent school accommodation will be required in the short to medium term include the following: east Meath, which will need 6,500 pupil places; south Louth, which will need 13,000 pupil places; west Dublin, which will be 13,000 pupil places; and Cherrywood in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, which will need 5,400 pupil places. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Substantial additional accommodation will also be needed in parts of the east midlands, south Leinster and in areas of Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick, particularly the hinterlands of these cities.
The short-term need for school accommodation is focused on primary provision. Obviously there will also be a need at post-primary level and we will proceed with plans for this in tandem with the primary school programme. Our ultimate goal will be to meet the emerging school accommodation needs of all developing areas and, by working closely with local authorities, to deliver schools at the same time as the major housing developments. A great deal of work must be done to ensure the structures are in place to adhere to this.
A key bottleneck is the acquisition of sites for schools at a reasonable cost and in a timely manner. The Department purchases the sites for most new primary and all post-primary schools and it is anticipated that this acquisition role will continue to develop and expand in the coming years, reflecting a move away from the traditional approach where denominational patrons acquired land for primary schools. Effectively, this is now a thing of the past. The Department of Education and Science buys and retains ownership of a site and leases the school to the board of management as operator.
A recent feature of our site acquisition strategy has been much greater liaison and interaction with local authorities and it is our intention that this should continue and expand. The programme for Government contains a number of commitments aimed at improving the site acquisition process for schools and to advance this, the Department is in discussions with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and representatives of the City and County Managers Association to formulate and agree more structured measures to be put in place. This afternoon, I will attend a meeting which will take a major step in advancing these issues.
I am conscious of the need to keep our opening remarks short and I will conclude. My colleague, Mr Kevin McCarthy, will provide information to the committee on the new model for patronage for primary schools.
