Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 December 2025
280. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of new school places her Department plans to create in Ballinteer Stepaside school planning area annually for the next five years, by year; and if they represent a new school or an expansion of existing schools, in tabular form. [68640/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe priority of the Department continues to be the provision of required additional school places to meet demographic requirements as well as for children with special educational needs. Data available to my department for Dublin south-west for the 2024/2025 academic year show that there were more first year places available than 6th class children and 5.7% of first year places were unfilled.
This reflects the very strong delivery of school building projects in the area. Since 2020, the department has invested over €6 billion under the National Development Plan (NDP) in our schools throughout the country which includes up to ten large scale and additional school accommodation projects in the Ballinteer Stepaside school planning area such as the major projects of Stepaside Educate Together National and Post Primary schools. Over 1,300 school building projects were completed nationally in this time. The Department must manage access to the school building pipeline within the context of available resources, including funding parameters. 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 (NDP). All Government departments are expected to publish their sectoral NDP Implementation Plans shortly. The department’s 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 information requested by the Deputy regarding ongoing projects in the Ballinteer Stepaside school planning area and their current status is available on the Department's website at, www.gov.ie and this information is updated regularly. In addition, a list of large-scale projects completed from 2010 to date may also be viewed on the website.
The pace of delivery of additional residential development in the wider area, along with updated enrolment data and demographic data will be kept under review and this will inform the timing of school requirements in the area.
