€1.5m paid to firm at centre of school safety legal row

The Department of Education paid €1.5m this year to a construction company with which it remains in legal dispute over alleged safety risks at a series of schools.

Western Building Systems (WBS) received €1,596,025 from the department in the first three months of the year.

The Tyrone-based company constructed 42 schools for the department through a rapid-build programme between 2007 and 2013.

In 2017, precautionary fire-safety audits were carried out at all schools built by the firm, after five were found to be in breach of regulations.

Separate structural investigations were carried out at 42 schools in 2018.

Last December, the department brought High Court proceedings against WBS over alleged defects.

In 2018, WBS received more than €10.7m from the department, accounts show.

The most recent payment, of more than €1.5m, in 2019, was due to “ongoing contractual commitments,” a Department of Education spokesman confirmed.

It is understood that this payment relates to two school construction projects, in Sandymount, Dublin, and Greystones, Wicklow, which are due to be completed by the end of the year.

At the start of the school holidays, remediation work began at 22 schools, following structural assessments last October and November.

The assessments in 2018 resulted in the closure of two schools and the partial closure of one school building, with precautionary measures put in place at a further 22 schools across the country. The remaining schools were cleared to open without any precautionary measures.

As well as the current remediation works, the department is also carrying out structural investigations of a further 17 schools, built by WBS, that did not require precautionary measures.

The Department of Education did not answer inquiries from the Irish Examiner about the projected costs of remediation at any schools where structural issues were discovered.

“The nature of the structural issues in the school buildings affected, and the cost of remediating them, are the subject of a legal process,” the spokesman said.

“The department is not in a position to comment on those matters for that reason.”