Éamon Ó Cuív
Question:128. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education the progress made to date with processing payment of a grant to a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15874/24]
View answerThursday, 11 April 2024
Questions (128)
Written answers
The purpose of the Summer Works Scheme (SWS) is to enable individual school authorities to undertake small-scale building works on a devolved basis. I can advise that the school in question was granted funding under the SWS 2022 to upgrade the windows at their school.
As the project was devolved to the school for delivery, the onus is on the school to abide by the SWS process. The approval granted was approval in principle, and prior to going to tender and appointing a contractor the school is advised to interact with the Department of Education on each occasion and receive formal approval before proceeding to site. Unfortunately, this did not happen in this case, and as such, my Department does not fund projects retrospectively, however officials from my Department continue to engage with the school to try and resolve the issue.
The first communication my Department had from the school was when the school submitted an invoice for the completed works in January 2023. My Department requested further information and a detailed breakdown of the works that had been completed. Following intensive engagement with the school and it's consultant, it was advised that €7,000 worth of works was completed on a new principal’s office, which was outside the scope of works that was originally approved. The school was advised that the Department would not be funding this scope of works. In addition to this the school was visited by a member of my Department's Professional & Technical area, where it was discovered that the windows installed were not suitable for a school environment and would not provide the required background ventilation in classrooms in accordance with the Department of Education's Technical Guidance Documents (TGDs).
The school was advised to revert to my Department with a proposed solution to ensure that the classroom ventilation would adhere to the TGDs. The proposed solution was submitted to my Department on the 22/02/2024 which was reviewed by our technical team, following this review further confirmation was sought from the school as to the replacement of recently installed domestic type external doors with fire escape external doors in accordance with current building regulations and the Department of Education's TGDs. My Department continues to liaise with the school and will revert when this information has been received.