689. Deputy Alan Shatter asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason for the delay in sanctioning the funding for the construction of a new permanent school building at a school (details supplied) in County Dublin in view of the fact that original permission had already been given; if his attention has been drawn to the conditions at the school which both students and teachers have to tolerate; and when he will sanction the commencement of the school building project. [5284/10]

Minister for Education and Science (Deputy Batt O’Keeffe): I propose to take Questions Nos. 656, 685 and 689 together.

The project for the school referred to by the Deputies has been announced to progress to tender and construction. Stage 2(a) for the project was approved in late December and the Design team have been authorised to progress to stage 2(b) of architectural planning. Stage 2(b), which involves application for planning permission, fire certificate etc. and the preparation of tender documents, is the immediate precursor stage to tender and construction. Although the project is progressing well, it will not be possible to give an indication of the timeframe for completion of the tender and construction process until planning permission has been secured and stage 2b of architectural planning has been completed.