Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of almost 1,400 school building projects along with over 4,000 small-scale improvement works to meet priority maintenance needs and advance energy efficiency and climate goal. As part of this unprecedented investment, my department delivered a new 16 classroom primary school with special education provision for the school referred to by the Deputy.
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.My Department is progressing urgent building projects that involve the repurposing of existing space in schools for special education needs (SEN) purposes. These projects will ensure that existing school capacity is optimised and that teaching spaces are adaptable and flexible to facilitate a student-centred approach to learning. Potential repurposing options will be school and site specific, presenting different opportunities and challenges. To support the delivery of these classes in good time, a new streamlined approach to funding was made available to repurpose existing accommodation for SEN.
A SEN Start Up grant of €30,000 for each new SEN classroom sanctioned and opened for the 2025/26 school year was payable to schools directly following receipt of NCSE notification of sanctioned classes. Additional funding for small scale repurposing works up to a maximum of €70,000 per class is also available to schools on an application and assessed needs basis. Further information on SEN repurposing supports can be accessed on www.gov.ie. Finally, it is open to schools to apply for a higher level of funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme in respect of opening special classes. The purpose of the Department’s ASA scheme is to ensure that essential classroom accommodation for pupils with special education needs is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or at other schools in the area.
Following a total capital allocation of €1.6 billion for 2025, the Government announced a further 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. 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. The NDP Implementation Plan for the Education and Youth sector and the first tranche of projects to progress to tender and construction will be published by my department shortly. This 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.
