Edward Timmins
Question:120. Deputy Edward Timmins asked the Minister for Education and Youth the status of building projects at schools in west Wicklow (details supplied);; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [70829/25]
View answerThursday, 11 December 2025
Questions (120)
Written answers
The current status of the 3 secondary school projects referred to by the Deputy is as follows:
The Blessington Community College project has been devolved for delivery to Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB). The Project is currently at Stage 2b of the architectural design process. This stage allows for detailed design and planning, obtaining the necessary statutory permissions and the preparation of tender documents. A full grant of planning permission has been received for the school.
KWETB have recently submitted the Stage 2b report to the Department and this is currently under review by the Departments Professional and Technical team. When this review is complete the Department will revert directly to KWETB regarding the next steps. While at this early stage, it is not possible to provide a timeline for the completion of the project. KWETB will continue to engage directly with the school authorities to keep them fully informed of progress.
Regarding St Kevins CC Dunlavin, this project has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects. The project is currently at Stage 2b of the architectural planning design process with a full grant of planning permission received for the school in 2024. Stage 2b is being finalised at the moment. The length of time a project takes to go through each stage varies, depending on a number of factors, including scale and complexity.
While at this early stage it is not possible to provide a timeline for completion of this project, the NDFA will continue to engage directly with the school authorities to keep them fully informed of progress on this important project.
Finally, in relation to Scoil Chonglais Baltinglass, the school was approved a project under my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme?to provide three general classrooms, one Textiles room, one Music room, one DCG/Tech room, one Home Economics room, two Science laboratories with one Prep area and a two Classroom SEN base.? This project has been devolved for delivery to KWETB.
This project received my Departments approval to go to planning in Q1 2025 and my Department currently awaits a post planning (developed design) report for review. It is now within the remit of the school authority along with KWETB to progress this project.
The Department is committed to ensuring appropriate school accommodation is available for all children in West Wicklow and will in the wider context outlined, ensure that these three projects - as for all projects on our school building programme - are subject to the due diligence required under the Public Infrastructure Guidelines.
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.
Government Departments are currently in the process of publishing their sectoral NDP Implementation Plans. The sectoral plan for the Education and Youth sector will be published next week and the first tranche of projects to progress to construction will be published in January. This NDP Implementation 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.