Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
419. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Education and Youth to provide an update on the provision of a new secondary school in Kildare town (details supplied), including the expected start of construction, completion of the project and opening of the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [73302/25]
View answerThe major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in the Department of Education and Youth’s Construction Programme which will be delivered under the National Development Plan (NDP) as part of Project Ireland 2040 framework.
The brief for this project is to provide a new permanent school building for the school, and this project is designed to be delivered in 2 phases; Phase 1 will deliver accommodation for 425 students and Phase 2 will deliver the remaining accommodation to provide for a Long Term Projected Enrolment of 1,000 students, at the former Magee Barracks site in Kildare.
The Design Team lodged their initial application for planning permission for the preferred design option with the Local Authority in October 2023. The Design Team subsequently received a substantial Request for Further Information (RFI) from the Local Authority in respect of the planning application. Following the Design Teams RFI response to the Local Authority, the Design Team received the Local Authority’s initial decision to grant planning permission, with conditions, on 09 October 2024.
The initial grant of planning decision was appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) (formally An Bord Pleanála) in October 2024 and the Design Team received ACP’s decision to grant planning permission in early February 2025.
The project is currently at Architectural Planning Stage 3 – Tender Action and Award. The tender returns have recently been received and a review of the tender returns is currently ongoing by the Design Team to formulate a tender report for the department’s review and comments.
The school is currently located in accommodation in the ownership of the Department of Defence. Pending completion of the new school building project, the department will continue to work with the patron bodies to ensure that the accommodation is appropriate for the school’s needs.
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.
