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Wed 10th March
Speaking in a debate in the Assembly on new school builds Mr Bradley said:
“If we examine the Department of Education’s paper ‘Schools Estate – Capital Programme’ which was presented to the Education Committee we see that £192 million was available for capital works. When the Executive’s reduction of £22 was netted from that £170 million remained. But this figure is already committed:
- £101m to PPP (Public Private Partnership) payments;
- £17.2m to existing major works already underway;
- £30m to minor works covering safety statutory requirement, and
- £22m to other existing site works and fees.
“The sum of these figures indicate that the £170m mentioned in the DE’s press release is already spent. This means that there is no ‘headroom’ expenditure for fresh major capital works. Does the Minister realize that this is the case? Who is right, her officials or the Minister? We need to know. We need to know what exactly is happening in the review of capital schemes. Where is it at? When will it be finished? Is there money for new capital projects, if so, how much? When will schools awaiting new builds know where they stand?
“In my own constituency St Joseph’s PS, Madden; St Oliver Plunkett PS; Forkhill, Dromintee PS; Abbey/St. Clare PS, Newry; St Joseph’s PS, Newry; Carrick PS, Burren are awaiting news of whether or not their new builds will go ahead. That is after a wait of eight or nine years in some cases and after review after review and economic appraisal after economic appraisal until the governors, teachers, parents and education providers are blue in the face, exasperated and frustrated.”
Email
dominicobrolchain@btinternet.com
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