Bitter blow for Clifden as school plan derailed
Clifden’s long-awaited new second level school has been derailed yet again after the Department of Education was forced to retender for the entire project.
And now local public representatives are at odds over when work will begin.
Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív predited that the chances of work beginning on Clifden Community School this year are almost nil, infuriating parents who had been expecting their children to move into a new building in September 2016 following more than a decade of disappointments.
But local fine Gael Cllr Eileen Mannion claimed that work on the new €10 million building will still begin this year, given the March 25 closing date for new tenders.
Contracts were due to have been signed with a builder by early this year after a preferred bidder was identified and construction work scheduled to be underway when the weather improved.
However the Department of Education has admitted the whole project has been delayed after they decided to re-tender for the build, a process which takes in the region of six months.
The scheme involves a new 3,900 square metre school building, along with temporary classrooms for the duration of the works.
A new school entrance will also be built, along with internal access roads, parking spaces and landscaping.
The demolition of the existing school and pre-fab classrooms will begin once the new building is fully operational.
In a statement a spokesperson for the Department said “a number of difficulties” had been encountered in the project since it was authorised to proceed to tender in 2014.
“As a result of these difficulties, the Department has advised the school that the most expedient and effective means of progressing the project to construction is for the project to be re-tendered,” she said.
“The project remains on the Department’s construction programme and will be progressed through a new tender process in the coming months. The new tender process will provide both the school and the Department with greater certainty with regard to the appointment of a contractor to commence the construction of the new school in 2015.”
When pressed about the difficulties, a spokeswoman declined to reveal their nature.
“Due to commercial sensitivity and the fact that the re-tender of this project has now commenced and the prequalification advertisement is now public, the Department is not in a position to elaborate,” she stated.
Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív said parents were bitterly disappointed.
“This is another setback in a long, long saga. This will set things back to the end of the year, maybe even next year as who’s going to start building in the middle of winter. The facilities in this school are totally substandard. With this project, it’s always two steps forward, one step back.”
He said the community had been campaigning for over eleven years for a modern school building which has over 400 pupils from as far as Ballyconneely, Roundstone, Recess, Renvyle, Letterfrack, Moyard, Cleggan, Claddaghduff as well as Clifden.
But local Councillor Eileen Mannion remained confident work would start during 2015.
“The Department of Education advised the school in January that the most effective means of progressing the project to construction was to re-tender and I am delighted that the project has already been re-tendered with a response deadline of March 25.
“The provision of a new school building will be a great boost for the local community both in terms of the delivery of a fit for purpose school but also in terms of job creation,” said Cllr Mannion.