Emer Currie
Question:238. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Education and Youth the position regarding a project (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [72784/25]
View answerWednesday, 17 December 2025
Questions (238)
Written answers
The major building project referred to by the Deputy will be delivered under my Department's ADAPT Programme. The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of Architectural Planning to Tender and Construction.
The Brief for this project is the development of a 32 Classroom Primary School with 4 classrooms for pupils with Special Educational Needs including Pyrite Remediation, the Refurbishment of Existing Buildings and the construction of a New Build Extension and all associated site works, including associated play areas.
The major building project is currently at an early stage of architectural planning - Stage 1 - Preliminary Design, where the design team assess the site and current buildings, and prepare their initial sketch schemes. A preferred design option, including the scope and extent of works to be carried out will be established during this early stage, to be then further detailed and developed and fully cost-planned, before seeking statutory approvals, including planning permission.
Interim Stage 1 architectural workshops were held between the Design Team and the Department in Q4 2023, and the Design Team submitted their Stage 1 report to the Department in late Q4 2023.
Upon review of the report, a further detailed architectural workshop was held between the School Authorities, the Project Manager, Design Team and my Department in February 2024.
Following that meeting, the Design Team were requested to consider my Department's comments in relation to the site and design options presented.
Department Officials and Design Team members have met on site at St. Patrick's National School in attempts to develop appropriate design solutions that will best meet the needs of the school, and being cognisant of the 3rd party occupiers at the same site.
The Design Team are to prepare a revised Stage 1 submission, which upon receipt, will be reviewed, and a Stage 1 Stakeholders meeting will then be arranged.
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 the 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 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.
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.