Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 December 2025
170. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Education and Youth the steps her Department is taking to assist schools stuck at stage 2b in the school building project process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [70428/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraSince 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. 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. Supplementary capital funding of €210 million approved by Government has brought the total capital allocation for 2025 for my department to €1.6 billion.
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.
My department will publish our sectoral NDP Implementation Plan shortly. This 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.
There are 5 core stages involved in the delivery of a school building project. The stages range from Preliminary Design right through to completion and handover Stage 2b includes obtaining all statutory approvals, preparing a set of fully detailed Tender documents, and preparing an accurate pre-tender cost plan. During the planning application, Requests for Further Information (RFI) from the Local Authority and possible third party appeals to An Bord Pleanála can considerably lengthen the process.
My Department’s Design Team Procedures set out the requirements to be followed at each stage in the process and the Department’s Planning & Building Unit employ a rigorous and structured approach to permitting a project to move from one stage to the next. This includes robust interrogation of project scope, design and cost by Department delivery teams at each stage.
The current status of all projects is set out under item number ten at the following link [(www.gov.ie)]. ?This is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.?
