A BUILDING project valued at €11 million at Sancta Maria secondary school in the Rathfarnham area in south Dublin has been approved by Minister for Education Mary Coughlan.
The project was shelved for over two years because of a restriction on Government funding, despite the submission of architectural plans in March 2008.
Ms Coughlan recently authorised the school to apply for planning permission, a fire safety certificate and a disability access certificate for a building extension.
A spokeswoman for the department said the school’s building plans meet the regulations set out in the building control laws, which require the applicant, among other measures, to provide adequate disability access.
Construction is expected to take place in two stages, beginning with development of the new school building and finishing with the demolition of an existing part of the building, which will facilitate construction of a new sports hall and refurbishment of an existing concert hall.
According to the department spokeswoman, funding will continue to be allocated to major school building projects, and once a project has been approved by the Minister and receives planning permission, the department would not withdraw or halt funding.
Having also applied for funding in 2009 under the department’s summer works scheme for the replacement of windows, the school received no funding for its application or assurance that the Minister would authorise the larger building project.
Sancta Maria is an all-girls Catholic school in Ballyroan, Rathfarnham. It has 535 students, but is planning for the long-term enrolment of 750 students.
The project is part of the Government’s €656 million school-building programme, announced earlier this year with the intention of creating 23,500 places in 52 schools around the country.
Including Sancta Maria, there are more than 200 school-building projects at various stages of the architectural planning process.
The school is one of 27 which have not yet secured full planning permission but have been authorised to prepare tender documentation and are expected to go to tender and construction later this year or in early 2011.