Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 May 2026
546. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth to provide the breakdown of the €1.547 billion capital allocation for school infrastructure in 2026, by county; the number of large-scale building projects planned for rural counties; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39000/26]
View answerSince 2020, my department has invested over €6.9 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,400 school building projects along with over 4,000 small-scale improvement works to meet priority maintenance needs and advance energy efficiency and climate goal. In addition, repurposing and optimisation of existing accommodation capacity across the school estate has been a key enabler of timely, local provision of special class capacity in a way that supports best practice in inclusion and integration. Circa 80% of new special classes in 2025/26 are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation.
Government support for this investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, has delivered real benefits for school communities.
In July the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan. As part of this NDP allocation my department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project rollout for Large-Scale projects and Additional School Accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project rollout over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.
The NDP Implementation Plan for the Education and Youth sector along with the first tranche of projects to progress to tender and/or construction during 2026 and 2027 was published in January 2026. This NDP Implementation Plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money, and meets functional needs.
The NDP Sectoral Investment Plan 2026–2030: Education and Youth set out the department’s approach to prioritised investment in school infrastructure. A County-by-County breakdown of funding and projects can be accessed at this link: NDP Sectoral Investment Plan 2026–2030: Education and Youth
The current status of all projects is set out under item number ten at the following link (www.gov.ie) This updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.? Government support for this investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, has delivered real benefits for school communities.
