Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2026
372. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth her Department's policy position on schools operating for extended periods without permanent accommodation; and the measures in place to address cases where such arrangements persist over multiple decades. [32272/26]
View answerEarlier this year, I published the NDP Sectoral Investment Plan for the Education and Youth Sectors 2026-2030. The NDP Plan enables the development of new special schools, the upgrading of existing facilities, and the creation of additional places in special classes and special schools including the targeted rollout of projects to meet the most urgent needs including schools currently located in interim accommodation.
The first tranche of projects being progressed to tender and/or construction, as appropriate, over the course of 2026 and 2027 involve 80 Large-Scale and Additional Accommodation Scheme school building projects and a total investment of over €1.5 billion within the parameters of NDP funding. These 80 projects will provide new and/or modernised capacity to cater for 26,000 pupils and all projects have a strong special education dimension.
45 of these projects are currently already at tender stage (Stage 3) so that they can progress to construction as smoothly as possible over the course of 2026 and 2027. This timeline reflects the need to carefully manage the rollout of these projects to construction on a controlled basis to ensure the Department continues to operate within NDP funding parameters. These projects include 19 new school buildings of which the majority (are either special schools or primary/post-primary schools that currently are operating from interim accommodation and have an urgent need for permanent accommodation.
As part of planning ahead for the next tranche of projects to progress to tender, the Department led prioritisation process will continue over the course of 2026/2027 to assess and evaluate the progression of individual projects through the design pipeline having regard to the continual need to maximise existing capacity and determine the prioritised needs going forward. This process will involve engagement with key stakeholders and individual school authorities and will ultimately inform the next tranches of programme rollout to tender.
