Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 December 2025
287. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Education and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 350 of 25 November 2025, the timeframe in which the application for additional accommodation by a school (details supplied) will be decided; if she will expedite this process considering the severe pressure on the school at present; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [68696/25]
View answerI can confirm to the Deputy, that the school in question submitted an application in September 2025 for capital funding, under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, for a Music room, Textiles room, Design and Computer Graphics room, Multimedia room and a Science lab and prep area.
My department had previously approved a traditional build project here for a Home Economics room, Engineering room and prep area and a Construction studies room. This project is currently at stage 2b. In addition, the school was approved 2 Modular Mainstream classrooms in 2023 and this accommodation has been delivered.
A further application for the ASA scheme was submitted in February 2025 for special class accommodation and a replacement mainstream classroom. The school had requested that this accommodation be added to their traditional build project. However, given the delays this would have entailed, the school agreed to allow its stage 2b project to proceed and to have its accommodation needs reviewed at a later stage. The school was advised as an interim measure that they could apply for funding to reconfigure current accommodation for a special class.
I can confirm that the school’s applications for additional accommodation are currently being considered and the school will be contacted directly once a decision has been made.
Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. In addition, repurposing and optimisation of existing accommodation capacity across the school estate has been a key enabler of timely, local provision of special class capacity in a way that supports best practice in inclusion and integration. Circa 80% of new special classes in 2025/26 are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation.
Government support for this investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, has delivered real benefits for school communities. Supplementary capital funding of €210 million approved by Government has brought the total capital allocation for 2025 for my department to €1.6 billion.
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 shortly. 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.
I can confirm that the applications from the school in question will be considered in this context.
