Schools under construction in race to open for new term

FOURTEEN new schools face a nervous race against time to open in September after Covid-19 derailed construction work.

Sites had been laying idle since March 27 when the Government introduced a wave of restrictions to stop the spread of Covid-19. Last Monday, limited construction was allowed to restart.

Figures obtained by the Irish Daily Mail from the Department of Education show that 14 new schools are due to open when the new term starts in September.

The schools, which include seven primary and seven secondary, are being built in Cork, Dublin, Meath, and Kildare.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said that he expects the schools would be opening as some form of ‘temporary accommodation’ while building works are completed.

The temporary accommodation for these schools could include already existing vacant buildings or prefabs.

The spokesman added that the existing school building programme, which also includes new buildings in existing schools, would be hit by the coronavirus construction slowdown, however, it is too early to speculate on how each project will be affected.

He said that they’ve received reports that workers are back in most school sites, whether that be people out assessing the sites or builders back working.

‘The building programme itself, it would have had an impact on it overall, but it is just trying to make up that kind of ground on what was lost,’ he said.

There are about 200 construction projects in schools at the beginning of this year.

Speaking in the Dáil last week, Education Minister Joe McHugh said: ‘New schools are due to open in September and there are many schools building projects associated with those openings, as well as extensions and new buildings across the country which were originally due to open this September.

‘The reopening of the construction sector offers the opportunity to advance the work on these projects.’

Under the Government’s current roadmap, primary schools, secondary schools and third-level institutions will remain closed until September.

Opposition parties have questioned how this could be done safely while observing social distancing, with the two-metre separation between pupils being a particular point of contention.

Minister McHugh recently warned that it is ‘too early to say’ how schools will reopen safely in September.

He announced this month that the Leaving Cert had been cancelled, after he previously pushed the start date for the exams to the end of July.

Concerns had been raised about how safe it would be to open schools just one month after cancelled exams were due to be held.

Mr McHugh said on RTÉ’s The Week In Politics programme that the exact outline as to how students will be able to abide by social distancing rules in September is yet to be determined.