Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 March 2026
417. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Education and Youth the up-to-date position with the provision of a new school (details supplied); when the school will proceed to tender; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16327/26]
View answerThe major project for the school referred to by the Deputy is now at an advanced stage of Architectural Planning - Stage 2(b) - Detailed Design, which includes the application for statutory approvals, which have been secured, and the preparation of tender documents.
The Stage 2b submission report was received by my Department in Q4 2024.
My department commenced a detailed review of this report by the multi disciplinary team and issued comments to the Design Team requesting additional information.
The Design Team have recently returned this information and their response is currently under review.
As 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.
My department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years with the continued rollout of these 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 the project at St. Annes Special School, The Curragh and 9 other projects in County Kildare.
These projects are in addition to €397.08 million in capital funding for Kildare schools between 2020 and 2025. Over that period, a total of 47 schools have been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation. There are currently 9 school projects in Kildare under construction.
Another 12 school?projects will go to tender or construction in 2026 and 2027, and this summer, 5 schools?are approved to?undergo works as part of the Summer Works Scheme / Climate Action scheme. In addition, since 2020 a total of 74 special classes have been opened in Kildare, 11 of which were sanctioned for September 2026.
The 105 prioritised projects will progress to tender and/or construction on a rolling basis over the course of 2026 and 2027 and within the context of NDP funding parameters. The timing of project progression will reflect the need to carefully manage the rollout of these projects to construction on a controlled basis to ensure that projects are delivered efficiently, align with the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines and Capital Works Management Framework and remain within the parameters of NDP funding.
Department officials will continue to engage closely with patron bodies, management bodies, and schools with respect to the timing of the progression of projects to tender and/or construction over the period 2026 to 2027. This will include continued engagement with St. Annes Special School, The Curragh, with respect to the progression of its project to tender.
The current status of all projects continues to be 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.
