Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
444. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Education and Youth the status of an additional accommodation scheme application lodged by a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [73468/25]
View answerI can confirm to the Deputy, that my department is in receipt of an application for capital funding, under the Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question.
The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or at other schools in the area.
I am pleased to advise, under the Department's Modular Accommodation Framework, that a Project Manager was appointed to the school to carry out a viability report for the agreed brief of accommodation. Due to the restricted nature of the school site and its location within an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) options to locate the modular accommodation were limited. The viability report issued to the school in January 2025. A number of issues was subsequently raised by the school authority in relation to the proposed location of the modular accommodation and also in relation to the repurposing of a basement space.
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.
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 shorlty 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.
The proposed project for this school is currently being considered in this context.
