Brian Stanley
Ceist:22. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Education and Skills the progress made in resolving the issues that are delaying a new school (details supplied). [28359/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 4 October 2016
Ceisteanna (22)
Freagraí ó Béal (7 píosaí cainte)
I ask the Minister about the school building programme. The school in question is St. Paul's secondary school in Monasterevin. I welcome that it has been put on the capital programme but there are technical problems holding it up. I wrote to the Minister about it. I have spoken to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, and I will explain why I was speaking to him about a school issue shortly. There are many efforts being made to resolve this matter. Perhaps the Minister can give me some good news on it because the new building is badly needed.
The building project for the school to which the Deputy refers was recently approved to progress to the advanced stage of the architectural planning process, stage 2b - detailed design - which includes the applications for planning permission, fire certificate and disability access certificate and the preparation of tender documents.
The design team, in liaison with officials from the relevant local authority, has identified a potential solution to the drainage requirements at the proposed site for the new school building. Officials from my Department are currently liaising with the relevant parties in order to secure the consents necessary to effect this solution. When agreements have been reached the planning application will then be submitted to the local authority.
I thank the Minister for the reply. This is a huge issue because St. Paul's in Monasterevin has been waiting for years to get onto the school building programme. Thankfully, it is now on it.
There are significant capacity issues. At present, the school is full. Basically, no further pupils can be enrolled. Some students from the catchment area are attending schools in Athy, Portlaoise and Portarlington.
I welcome that the new project would cater for 800 pupils. It was to go to construction this year. The problem with the project relates to drainage. I have spoken to senior staff in the local authority about this matter on a number of occasions. I have also spoken to officials in the Department about it. I wrote to the Minister about it. The issue needs to be resolved. Kildare County Council has assured me on a number of occasions that it will provide every assistance to the Minister's officials but it needs active engagement from them in order to move matters forward. As already stated, the problem relates to drainage. Basically, a way needs to be found to drain the surface water adjacent to the school building to the River Barrow via lands that are not owned by the Department of Education and Skills and I must point out that there is a wayleave arrangement in place that falls under the control of the local authority.
When I was Tánaiste, I visited this school with former Deputy Jack Wall and former Senator John Whelan. I wholeheartedly concur with what has been said. The building project for this school has, like that relating to St. Mochta's, been waiting years for approval. Does the Minister propose, in the context of the budget or shortly thereafter, to publish a list of all of the schools - indicating the position in respect of each - that are included in the 2016-2021 capital programme? That would be important for the many school communities by which I am being approached that are really worried about their different projects, whether it be in the context of land acquisition or, as in the case of Monasterevin, finalisation - after what seems like decades - of a vital project.
To reassure Deputy Stanley, my Department is taking an active role on this. All relevant technical issues have now been addressed and the Department is optimistic that the landowner's consent will be forthcoming. As Deputy Stanley will be aware, the project involves the construction, on a greenfield site, of a post-primary school building to cater for 850 pupils and an issue had to be resolved before a planning application could be submitted. To reassure Deputy Burton, this is not some tactic within the Department to delay worthy projects. In this instance, a genuine issue had to be resolved.
The position of each school is available on the website of my Department. When schools are released to commence the detailed design process, that is tracked. However, sometimes those design processes run into unforeseen problems due to issues - in this case, drainage - which may arise and which, obviously, influences the pace at which they proceed.
I assure the Deputy that every penny we get is always spent. We have a very strong process of making sure that we have a pipeline available to use the resources as fully and as effectively as possible.
I welcome the Minister's response indicating that a resolution has been found to the technical issues, as they were difficult enough issues to resolve. I am glad to hear there is active engagement by his officials with the county council and the school authorities locally. The school staff are very concerned about this. There are under great pressure with respect to where they are operating from and, apart from it being unsuitable, there is a major capacity issue having regard to the school catchment area. The population in the area has increased. The Minister mentioned a pipeline for funding. Will he clarify that the funding is in place and that there will be no hold up in funding for this project? Can he give a timeline for this project, as there has been slippage on the initial timeline given?
Obviously, I cannot give a timeline because there are many issues involved, including the planning application, the detail and the design, all of which are issues that have to be completed by the design team. The necessary consents have to be obtained. Those are not in the control of my Department. I assure the Deputy that when projects reach a certain point, as has been the case this year, a block of schools are released to go to tender. We make sure that we are in a position where all moneys are properly utilised. We have a flow of money in the six-year programme, which will fund projects as they come to fruition. As adverted to by Deputy Burton, there are now five schools which have reached a point where they could be released to tender but we have to make sure that we are in a position to complete the construction phase. There can be delays of that nature but I assure the Deputy that the funding is being provided. We are making sure we have projects ready and we release all projects to maximise the impact on school numbers.