“Many people thought that this day would never come” – Paul Givan

EDUCATION Minister Paul Givan has hailed the start of work on the much-delayed Strule Shared Education Campus in Omagh.

“Many people thought that this day would never come,” said Mr Givan after he took part today in the official sod-cutting ceremony at the massive site, where six schools will be based once work on the £375m project is completed in 2028.

The plans for the Strule project were first put forward in 2010 but it has plagued by delays and other issues.

While construction work recently got underway at the site, the project still has its problems.

Representatives from one of the six schools involved, Omagh High School, boycotted today’s sod-cutting event over concerns they have around how they have been consulted in relation to their new facilities on the Strule campus.

The other five schools who will be based at the new campus are Omagh CBS, Omagh Academy, Sacred Heart College, Loreto Grammar and Arvalee School and Resource Centre.

Representatives from those schools were present at today’s event, which was also attended by First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly.

When asked about the decision of the Omagh High School principal and governors to boycott today’s event, Mr Givan described it as a ‘missed opportunity’ for the school.

“The principal can defend why he has decided to take that approach but I think people can see we are going to deliver world class facilities here in Omagh,” said the Education Minister.

“I as a minister have to take decisions when it comes to allocating resources and funding.

“There are many schools across Northern Ireland looking on and seeing this construction work.

“They will be saying ‘why not us’ and I appreciate for them they are still going to be in schools that are not fit for purpose, but from within a limited budget resource that’s available to me, I prioritised this and that means Omagh High School will get a fabulous brand new school which any other school in Northern Ireland would be crying out for.

“I think people should just reflect on that in terms of what they are actually going to get in this process but there will be many more opportunities for Omagh High School to be part of this project.”

Mr Givan said he understood the frustrations around the delay to the Strule project.

“There are many reasons why that has happened,” he said.

“I can answer for when I came into my office a year ago. I sat down with my team and said ‘where is the Strule education project. Talk me through what the issues are’ because we were at a critical point in terms of the procurement process which was in danger of collapsing.

“We put in the resources to take us through all the relevant business cases and economic appraisals to make sure we had the most robust evidence to show this was going to be value for money and then I as Education Minister brought this forward to the Executive.

“I prioritised Strule and I recognised that we needed to make the progress and I was delighted that the Executive and the First and Deputy First Ministers came here but I had to get wider support given the size of funding that is going to be involved.

“I understand the frustrations along that journey.

“I can account for when I came in and the priority I have given to make sure that actually we delivered on this and I think today people can see that it is now happening.”