Minister Martin Heydon TD for Kildare South has welcomed confirmation from the Department of Education today that progress is being made in the design and build programme for a number of key school building projects in Kildare.
“The confirmation provided by the Department today relates to 4 Kildare school building projects that are being managed and delivered on a devolved basis by the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) on behalf of the Department. The 4 Kildare projects are CPC Kilcullen, Patrician Post Primary School Newbridge, St Mary’s Girls Post Primary School Naas and St Marks Special School, Newbridge.
“It has been confirmed that the first phase of the process for the procurement of design and build (D&B) contractors for these 4 school building projects has been completed through the selection of five Design and Build Contractors.
“The second phase of the procurement process will involve the tendering of the first bundle of projects by these D&B contractors and the establishment of a contractor framework to tender for each subsequent bundle of projects as they become ready (design work completed and planning permission etc. obtained).
“The extensions to the secondary schools in CPC Kilcullen, Patricians Newbridge and St Mary’s Naas will bring each school to a 1,000 pupil school and help to alleviate demand at second level which has been evident for many years now. The building project at St Marks Special School will bring it to a 12 classroom school.
“While these extensions are important and welcome, we still need confirmation of the site for the new 1,000 pupil Curragh post Primary School to be delivered as soon as possible and I share the frustrations of many families at the delay in that but I continue to push Minister Norma Foley and her officials for progress”, concluded Minister Heydon.