Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 February 2026
332. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the status of the additional school accommodation application submitted by a school (details supplied); when her Department expects to complete its assessment of the application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15720/26]
View answerI can confirm to the Deputy that an application under the department’s Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) Scheme has been received from the school in question. The school applied for additional accommodation in June 2025 and the application is currently under assessment.
The department uses a geographic information system (GIS), which facilitates the analysis of data from a range of sources, including CSO census data, child benefit and school enrolment data, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise and where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level.
As part of the demographic demand analysis, my department also factors in planning and construction activity in the residential sector. This involves the analysis of data sources from local authorities and the CSO, along with regular engagement with local authorities. This ensures that schools infrastructure planning is keeping pace with demographic changes at a local level, where the picture can quickly evolve due to new large scale residential development.
Given the general downward direction of overall enrolments in the area the department's focus for the assessment of such additional accommodation applications will be as follows:
• Analyse the extent to which enrolments at this school and neighbouring schools are serving the local area in the first instance. This will identify if some of the pressures on local capacity are arising from the enrolment of pupils from outside the local area where there may be other school provision opportunities available to them.
• In assessing accommodation capacity at this school and neighbouring schools, an assessment will need to be made on how best to utilise existing capacity in the context of both mainstream and SEN requirements in the local area.
The above sets the parameters for the department’s decision-making processes and this will, where necessary, involve engagement with school patrons and relevant individual schools as appropriate.
My department has provided €118.56 million in capital funding for schools in the county referred to between 2020 and 2025. Over that period, a total of 27 schools have been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation. There are also currently 5 school projects in County Louth under construction. We also have a large modular accommodation programme delivering urgently needed school places.
The 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.
My department has had ongoing contact with the school in relation to this application and the accommodation needs of the school will be considered in the above context and a decision on this application will issue to the school shortly.
