Malcolm Byrne
Question:19. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Youth to outline any progress toward providing a general purpose hall or sporting facilities for a school (details supplied). [53707/26]
View answerThursday, 16 July 2026
Questions (19)
Written answers
The school referred to by the Deputy submitted an application under my department’s Additional School Accommodation scheme in 2022. The school was approved funding for the provision of modular accommodation to provide for a mainstream classroom, a home school liaison room, staff room and staff toilets. This project was completed in 2023.
The school also sought funding for a new general purpose hall as part of their application but this was not approved. The school currently has a multi-purpose room of 116 square metres which can serve as a general purpose area. Information submitted by the school also indicates that the site has an extensive range of outdoor play facilities.
The school is benefiting from other significant capital investments. It has been selected for inclusion in the Department’s Climate Action Pathfinder Programme, which is jointly funded by my Department and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). This project, which is currently on site, will provide a deep energy retrofit for the school. The upgrade works include the installation of energy-efficient heat pumps, LED lighting, and mechanical heat recovery with ventilation systems. In addition, the building fabric and airtightness of the school is being significantly improved, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure is also being provided on site.
My department also approved a recent application from the school to repurpose existing space to open a new special education needs classroom. This project is to be incorporated into the existing pathfinder project.
The Deputy will be aware that I published the €7.55 billion NDP Sectoral Investment Plan for the education and youth sectors for the period 2026 to 2030. The Plan sets out the department’s approach to prioritised investment in school infrastructure to ensure that every child has a school place and to support the overall operation of the school system and youth sector. There is a strong focus in our plan on maximising existing capacity and prioritising project rollout to meet the most urgent needs, particularly to support special education needs provision.