Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 April 2026
86. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on the status of the capital project at a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28745/26]
View answerThe school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter my Department's pipeline for school building projects under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme to provide nine mainstream classrooms, five Special Education Tuition (SET) rooms, one Graphics room, one Music room, one Textiles room and a two classroom Special Education Needs (SEN) base. The project was devolved to Catholic Education An Irish Schools’ Trust (CEIST) to deliver.
The project was granted approval to progress to Stage 2a developed design in January 2025. A Stage 2a report was received in March 2026 and is currently under review from a technical and cost perspective. All school building projects, including this one, will undergo the necessary due diligence outlined in the Infrastructure Guidelines. Managing timing, scope, and cost is crucial to ensuring that the overall school building programme remains within the funding parameters.
My department has a strong track record of delivering the Government’s School Building Programme with over €6 billion invested since 2020.
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 sets out my department’s approach to prioritised investment in school infrastructure. There is a strong focus in the plan on maximising existing capacity and prioritising project rollout to meet the most urgent needs particularly to support special education needs provision.
The project at the school in question forms part of this overall pipeline of school building projects that will continue to be managed in line with available NDP funding.
