Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
456. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Education and Youth if her Department has received proposals from a school (details supplied) in County Louth proposing internal modifications to the proposed new buildings; if she is aware of the fact that the new school building has been in process for several years; if she will include the project in her Department’ Sectoral Plan under the revised NDP; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [71753/25]
View answerThe major project for the school referred to by the Deputy is currently at Architectural Planning Stage 3 – Tender Action and Award.
The brief for the project is the development of a new 20 Mainstream Class primary school plus 4 classrooms for pupils with Special Educational Needs, along with one Home School Liaison Room (HSCL) on existing site.
My Department is currently reviewing Tender report no. 2 which is subject to due diligence by my Department which is a critical part of the overall completion of the Stage 3 process and is critical to ensuring quality and value for money.
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.
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.
