Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 February 2026
254. Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on each new school building project in County Galway, including those at planning, design, tender and construction stages; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9020/26]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, I have recently published the €7.55 billion NDP Sectoral Investment Plan for the Education and Youth Sectors for the period 2026 to 2030. This NDP Sectoral Plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. In this regard there will be a strong special education dimension to project rollout.
Of the total €7.55 billion investment it is envisaged that circa. €5 billion will be used for project rollout to support the delivery and modernisation of school buildings across the Large Scale, Additional Accommodation, Modular, and Annual September Accommodation Needs programmes. Over the course of 2026 and 2027 there will be construction work at circa. 10% of the school estate. These projects will, when completed, provide circa 57,000 additional and modernised school places with a strong SEN focus in all projects.
My department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years with the continued rollout of projects on a prioritised basis to meet the most urgent needs in terms of provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing facilities. In this regard, I have also published a list of the 105 school building projects in the first tranche to proceed to construction or tender over 2026 and 2027. This list includes 10 projects in County Galway.
These projects are in addition to €251.39 million in capital funding for county Galway schools between 2020 and 2025. Over that period, a total of 88 schools in county Galway have been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation. There are also currently 20 school projects in county Galway under construction.
The current status of all projects, including completions, is set out under item number ten at the following link (www.gov.ie). This is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.
