Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 February 2005
175 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Education and Science if the progress of the schools building programme for 2005 will be reviewed during the course of the year; the progress made to date on the implementation of the programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3285/05]
View answerI recently announced details of 122 major school building projects that will progress to tender and construction over the next 12 to 15 months. My Department's building unit has been in contact with these schools and arranged a general information meeting to guide them through the process involved in moving projects to tender and construction. The meetings took place on 31 January and 1 February in Tullamore and all schools were invited to attend.
Responsibility for the day to day management of these projects is a matter for each school authority and its design team. While some of the 122 projects will be ready to go on site earlier in the year than others, all of the projects should be capable of going to tender and construction within this published timescale.
I am anxious to ensure that a consistent flow of projects to tender and construction can be sustained into the future. I plan to make a number of announcements in the near future about the schools' building and modernisation programme including: details of schools identified as suitable for construction under public private partnerships; an expansion of the number of schools that will be invited to deliver their building projects on the basis of devolved funding; details of schools with projects approved under the 2005 summer works scheme; schools whose projects will further progress through the design process; schools that will be authorised to commence architectural planning.
The progress of the building programme is a matter of ongoing review during the course of the year.
