EDUCATION:SEVEN NEW schools providing accommodation for over 4,800 pupils are to be built under a new phase of the Department of Education's public-private partnership (PPP) programme.
Six are post-primary schools and one is a primary school.
They are located in counties Donegal, Leitrim, Galway, Wexford, Waterford and Westmeath. They are expected to be ready by 2012.
Announcing the projects, Minister Batt O'Keeffe said the new schools will radically improve our educational infrastructure at primary and post-primary levels.
Under the PPP model, the private contractors build and fund the projects over the 25-year life of the contract.
The private sector also manages and pays for services such as cleaning and security over that period.
This is the third bundle of schools to be financed by the controversial PPP scheme.
A report from the Comptroller and Auditor General found that schools provided under the PPP route can cost the taxpayer more. But the department maintains the PPP model is the most cost efficient way of building new schools.
Mr O'Keeffe said yesterday: "One of the main advantages PPP schools have is that the principal is not involved on a daily basis in maintenance and caretaking issues."
The Minister said he hoped construction work can begin as quickly as possible once all necessary steps have been taken in the PPP process.
Meetings will be held with each school early next year to detail the PPP procurement mechanism and the role of the individual schools in the bundled project. The following schools are to be included in the third bundle of the PPP programme:
Post-primary Coláiste Ailigh, Letterkenny, Co Donegal: to provide a permanent school for the gaelcholáiste established in 2000 [350 pupils];
Ballinamore Community School, Co Leitrim: arising from the amalgamation of Fatima and Felim's Secondary School and Ballinamore Vocational School [400 pupils];
Doughiska Community College, Co Galway: new school for a rapidly growing population in the Doughiska area [650 pupils]. It will be provided on a shared campus with the new primary school (see below);
Gorey, Co Wexford: new school for a rapidly growing population in the Gorey area [1,000 pupils];
Tramore Community School, Co Waterford: arising from the amalgamation of CBS Tramore and Stella Maris schools [1,000 pupils];
Athlone Community College, Co Westmeath: replacement for the current building [1,000 pupils];
Primary Doughiska, Co Galway: new school for a rapidly growing population in the Doughiska area [447 pupils].
The first bundle of schools announced in November 2005 comprised Banagher College-Coláiste na Síonna; Gallen Community School, Ferbane; Scoil Chríost Rí, Portlaoise; and St Mary's CBS, Portlaoise. The second bundle of primary and post-primary projects was announced in November 2006 and included Bantry Community College and Gaelscoil Bheanntraí, Co Cork; Kildare Town Community School; Abbeyfeale Community College; Athboy Community School; and Wicklow Town Community College.