Darren O'Rourke
Question:470. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth when refurbishment works at a school (details supplied) will be completed. [65176/25]
View answerThursday, 20 November 2025
Questions (470)
Written answers
The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is currently at Stage 4-Construction.
The Design Team for the project issued the Letter of Acceptance to the successful contractor on the 6th June 2025.
The project was due to commence on site in July 2025, however, following a late planning condition issued by the Local Authority-a Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) was requested and subsequently submitted by the Design Team.
Construction will commence once the Local Authority have approved the CEMP.
In the interim, the contractors are progressing with preliminary site activities such as surveys and compound boundary marking.
The project has an estimated contract duration of 19 months.
In July the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan. As part of this NDP allocation my department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project rollout for Large-Scale projects and Additional School Accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project rollout over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs. It is planned that circa 80 school building projects will progress to construction across 2026 and 2027 as part of a 2-year rolling programme.
All Government departments are expected to publish their sectoral NDP Implementation Plans in November. My department’s plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money, and meets functional needs.