Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 February 2021
499. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Education the process and average timeframe from the appointment of a design team to the completion once a project has been referred to the National Development Finance Agency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10360/21]
View answerThe projects to which the Deputy refers have to complete the five stages of architectural planning involved in the delivery of all major school projects. The length of time it takes to get through these stages will depend on a variety of factors, including the size and complexity of the relevant project. Critically, it is also dependent on how well progress is made through the statutory approvals process.
It is too early at this stage of the architectural planning process to provide an accurate timeframe as to how long the projects in question will take to deliver. I can inform the Deputy, however, that all seven of the schools included in Project Nore, one of the bundles of projects in the NDFA programme, had completed Stage 1 of this process by October 2020 in circumstances where the design team was appointed in April 2020. This is an excellent outcome in terms of the timeframes for completion of this stage of the process given the number and complexity of the projects in question.
Project Nore is currently in the final stages of the Stage 2A process which is further excellent progress.
