Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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299. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on school building projects in the Maynooth area (details supplied). [28925/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The project for the first school referred to by the Deputy will deliver a new 8 classroom primary school and accommodation, including 2 classrooms for children with special educational needs.

The project currently has planning permission and will, along with a number of other projects, be brought to the level of employer-led design with a Design Team assigned to do so under the supervision of the Department’s project manager.

The process of appointing the Design Team from the Department’s Frameworks of Consultants was completed in September 2023 and the project is currently close to completion of Stage 2(b) of the architectural design process. Stage 2(b) involves detailed design and the preparation of tender documentation.

The next stage, subject to relevant Stage 2(b) approvals, will be Stage 3, tender stage.

Projects are subject to relevant due diligence at each stage in the process, within the context of overall programme and budgetary parameters.

The school is currently located in interim accommodation on the Moyglare Campus Site, Maynooth. There is sufficient interim accommodation for the 2024/2025 school year. My Department will continue to address the school's interim accommodation requirements pending delivery of its permanent accommodation.

My Department will continue to keep the school and Patron Body updated in relation to progress.

The second school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the Department's pipeline of Additional School Accommodation (ASA) building works for the provision of 3 SET rooms, 4x Mainstream Classrooms and to reconfigure existing classroom to Early Intervention unit and Ancillary.

The project was devolved to the school authority for delivery.

The school were approved to proceed to planning in Q1 2022 . The Department were advised in Q2 2023 that planning permission was refused. The school authority appealed this decision. The Department was advised that it was expected a decision date for the Planning Appeal would be in Q4 2023. To date, the Department has not been informed of the outcome of this appeal.

It is currently with the school authority to progress this project.

This project for the third school referred to by the Deputy has been devolved for delivery to Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB). I am pleased to confirm that the design team was recently appointed by KWETB and will now begin preparing the Stage 1 report (preliminary design).

As the project is at an early stage in the delivery process, it is not possible at this time to give a date for its completion. Please be assured that KWETB will be engaging directly with the school authority to keep it informed of progress.