Pádraig Mac Lochlainn
Question:60. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Education for an update on when construction will commence on new school buildings (details supplied). [16349/24]
View answerTuesday, 16 April 2024
Questions (60)
Oral answers (6 contributions)
My question is about when construction on a new school building in Scoil Íosagáin, Buncrana, will finally commence. The school has been waiting approximately 20 years now for this to happen. I cannot stress enough how appalling the conditions within the school buildings are. The Minister has been sent an email from the board of management containing more than 100 pages of documentation, and the photographic evidence is really shocking. This is where they have to provide an education every day.
At the outset, I will say that I am very familiar with this particular school. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, has raised this with me on a number of occasions, so I am very invested in bringing this over the line. I know that is the Deputy’s view also.
The project that has been referenced by the Deputy is included in the Department’s construction programme, which will be delivered under the national development plan as part of Project Ireland 2040. The project for Scoil Íosagáin in Buncrana is a large-scale project which will provide a new 25-classroom school and all associated ancillary accommodation. The building will also include a further eight classrooms and three specialist rooms for children with special educational needs. These will include a sensory and play suite, a home studies room and an art and music room.
Since 2020, the Department of Education has invested more than €4.5 billion in schools around the country. Approximately 800 school building projects have been completed and 300 projects are under construction. Schools in County Donegal have received €123.5 million in investment since 2020, when this Government came into being, with 35 school building projects being completed and a further 25 currently in construction, including modular accommodation.
School building projects under construction involve an overall State investment of more than €1.2 billion, with most of these projects due for completion in 2024 and 2025. This is a record level of investment and highlights the Department’s strong track record in providing additional capacity and modern facilities for our school communities. I recently announced €800 million in funding for 90 school building projects that will move from tender stage to construction. Some of these have now been announced. They will all be done by degrees in the coming weeks and months.
The projects moving to construction in this next phase will add in the region of 200,000 m2 of additional and modernised permanent capacity across the school estate. They will involve 28 new school buildings and 61 extensions of existing buildings. This level of construction roll out recognises the priority that the Government puts on investment in education, including responding to the increased requirement for special education provision. New medium-term capital allocations for the Department of Education were confirmed in the recent review of national development plan allocations. The Department’s planning and building unit is now reviewing its programme plans in the context of this allocation.
I am struggling to find words here. I have just told the Minister that a 114-page document has been sent to her. I have seen it and it contains photographic evidence of the absolutely appalling conditions that teachers and children have to endure. Planning permission was lost because two contractors did not proceed to tender stage. There has been a lack of urgency in the Minister’s Department. I have read some of the emails from the school's board of management. It makes for harrowing reading to see the correspondence it gets from the teachers and parents. My question is very clear: when will the Minister's Department issue a letter of intent to the proposed contractor and when will the construction commence? I am really hoping the Minister can give assurance now here on the floor of the Dáil about when that will happen. It is straightforward. There is a trail of correspondence and contact from the board of management with the officials in the Minister’s Department and the lack of urgency is simply unacceptable. I am expecting good news here tonight.
There is no lack of urgency here; I want that to be very clear. This project has moved at pace under the last four years of this Government. As I have said, under the next phase of the school building programme, individual school building projects will be authorised to proceed to construction, subject to an assessment of tender reports and relevant due diligence by the Department’s planning and building unit.
The large-scale specific project for Scoil Íosagáin in Buncrana is currently at stage 3, which is tender stage. The tender report was received from the Scoil Íosagáin board of management and the design team by my Department in January 2024. The analysis and review of same is at an advanced stage.
The next step in the project will be the authorisation to issue the letter of intent to the successful tenderer. My Department will be in contact with the school authorities shortly with regard to the next steps involved in the project. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, has confirmed the letter will issue shortly. Once a contractor has been appointed, it is expected it will take approximately 27 months to complete the project. It will be delivered at pace.
As I have said, more than €127 million has been invested in Donegal. Schools such as the Gaelscoil in Moville have been opened. Moville Community College is under construction. The three-school campus in Buncrana, for which I initiated the compulsory purchase order, CPO, is now going to design.
I will come back to the Minister on the three-school campus on another day. In respect of the issue before us, she mentioned the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, but she is the Minister for Education. I want to be clear. Is she saying that in the days ahead, her Department is going to issue a letter of intent to the proposed contractor? Will that be followed very quickly by the signing of a construction contract? She is the Minister for Education, with all due respect, so I am asking her to confirm that to me in the Dáil tonight. We have waited patiently. This proposal has been developing for 20 years. We are at a serious point now. I cannot stress enough that we are at crisis point for the teachers and children in that school. The mouldy conditions are making them unwell. Those conditions are unacceptable. Some of the buildings in which they are trying to teach are approximately 100 years old. It is urgent that she gives us the clear, good news that the project is finally moving to construction and those kids can have the education and facilities they deserve.
I thank the Deputy. I absolutely understand and appreciate the importance of the provision of a new build for a school. I recognise the importance of such provision in the interests of the school community, including the staff, students and the wider school community, comprising parents and the wider community. It is for that reason this project has moved, as I said. We received the required documentation in January. I made it clear that the project was being moved as a priority. I also said clearly, and I am happy to repeat, that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, has engaged with me on an ongoing basis in respect of this project. I confirmed to him that the letter of intent will issue shortly. I believe he also referenced that on foot of his engagement with me. I give that confirmed commitment again. The letter of intent will issue shortly. It is a priority that we get the project moving. It has moved at pace under this Government and I look forward to the letter of intent issuing shortly.