James O'Connor
Question:85. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Education for an update on a school building project (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3656/25]
View answerThursday, 6 February 2025
Questions (85)
Written answers
I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an application for additional school accommodation (ASA) from the school authority in question.
The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or at other schools in the area.
At primary level, this situation generally arises to cater for a school’s accommodation requirements where an additional teaching post has been sanctioned by Teacher Allocation Section, or a new SEN class has been sanctioned by the NCSE, and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes.
The main focus of my department’s resources over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of critical additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics. The department is required to manage the overall school building programme so that we target and prioritise areas that are under greatest pressure for additional school places. This reflects our fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.
Officials from my Department have engaged with the school authority in relation to the school's application and I am pleased to advise the Deputy that an offer of accommodation was sent to the school recently for agreement. As soon as agreement to the brief of accommodation is received from the school the project will progress to the department's delivery section.