Strule: Department of Education has 'no money' for campus

The site in Omagh will eventually accommodate six schools but the construction costs have soared

Reassurance on funding for the Strule Shared Education Campus in Omagh cannot yet be provided, Education Minister Paul Givan has said.

Strule is the biggest school building project to be planned in NI.

It will involve more than 4,000 pupils being taught in six schools with some shared facilities.

Beset by delays, the project's cost has soared to an anticipated £341m. An independent review last year deemed it "unaffordable".

While much of the funding will come from the government's Fresh Start Agreement, £170m will be required from the Department of Education.

Mr Givan said he has been seeking approval from the executive to identify funding so that the project can be completed.

But he told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Tuesday: "My department does not have the money, it could not stand over the magnitude of what we need for that, it needs to be agreed by the executive.

"Therefore, Strule at the moment is the one project as part of that wider Fresh Start scheme which does not yet have the reassurance I would like to give it."

The minister was questioned by the Westminster committee as part of an ongoing inquiry it is holding into integrated and shared education in Northern Ireland.

The campus is being built on the site of the former Lisanelly Army base in Omagh

He was asked about £150m of funding from Fresh Start no longer being ringfenced for new buildings at 10 integrated and shared education schools.

Mr Givan said the majority of schools involved would "continue to advance" their design plans to the point they could be "shovel-ready".

"When finance becomes available they can be allocated funding, but they are there alongside all of the capital projects in my department," he told MPs.

"I need to secure a minimum of approximately £100m and then we need significantly more funding and that's when I'll be in a position to allow these projects to go forward.

"All of them will be treated fairly and equitably subject to funding being available."

A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: "The UK Government has removed the ring-fence from £150m of the Fresh Start funding package as opposed to individual projects, but will continue to provide the full £500m to the Northern Ireland Executive.

"It is now for the executive to decide however how to deploy £150m of this funding, which had been due to run out in 2025 if we had not provided this financial package to the Northern Ireland parties."

'Urgent need'

The education minister added that it was the outstanding issue of the Strule campus that was "hugely significant".

Mr Givan warned that it was a "flagship project" and that if it did not proceed, much public expenditure would be lost given the scale of the plans.

To date, £44.4m has been spent on the construction of Arvalee Special School at the campus, a new road scheme and site preparation work.

Arvalee, which opened in 2016, is one of of six schools proposed for the site.

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Loreto Grammar and Christian Brothers Grammar as well as Omagh High School, Sacred Heart College and Omagh Academy are due to relocate to the campus when it is finished.

Some of those schools are in urgent need of modern facilities, and they have been told the Strule project is the only show in town.

The planned campus includes some shared areas, such as a hub containing classrooms for shared lessons, a school of performance and shared sports facilities.

The campus had originally been due to open in 2020, but has been delayed a number of times and the budget has risen well beyond original estimates.