Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 January 2024
115. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to provide an update on the progress being made with regard to the Swords College of the Future project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1439/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI thank the Deputy for his question.
The Deputy will be aware that Dublin Dun Laoghaire ETB (DDLETB) have been working with and supported by SOLAS in developing their preliminary business case proposal for Swords under the College of the Future Major Projects fund for the last number of months. The development of a robust Preliminary Business Case (PBC) is fundamental to the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines (Formerly known as the Public Spending Code guidelines).
Completed preliminary business cases including that of Dublin Dun Laoghaire ETB were to be submitted to SOLAS by the deadline of last Friday, the 12th of January. These business cases will be evaluated under criteria such as value for money, affordability and strategic policy and priority alignment, in line with the requirements of the infrastructure guidelines. ETBs will be informed of the outcome of this evaluation process once it is completed. Officials from my department and SOLAS have also met with DDLETB and the Local Authority representatives at the end of last year to explore site options for their proposal and the identification of a suitable site by DDL ETB is ongoing.
The proposal put forward by DDLETB is expected to encompass the transformation FET provision in the area by developing a state-of-the-art further education campus to facilitate a 1,000-place college, and enabling an additional 6,000 beneficiaries of FET annually in the region to drive its economic growth and social development.
