Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 January 2026
128. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update regarding a new campus and new buildings for a school (details supplied), given the school has been operating out of temporary buildings and prefabs for 18 years; the reason for the delay in the completion of a new campus; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5012/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe project referred to by the Deputy is part of the Celbridge Campus project that has been devolved for delivery to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) as part of a bundled school building programme (Project Shannon). There are three schools within this campus project including Scoil Naomh Padraig.
The brief for Scoil Naomh Padraig includes the provision of 24 mainstream classrooms and 4 SEN classrooms.
The project is currently at Stage 2a of the architectural design process. Stage 2a (the developed design stage) involves the Design Team developing the designs, fully cost planning the campus project and preparing the necessary documentation to facilitate the lodging for statutory approval to Kildare County Council as part of the Stage 2b process.
The length of time a project takes to deliver depends on several factors, including scale and complexity and is subject to the time it takes to progress through the various design stages and the statutory approval process.
I can confirm that I have asked department officials, the NDFA and the LDA to engage on this project. The NDFA will continue to engage directly with the school authority to keep them fully informed of all progress on this important project.
In July 2025, 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 and the first tranche of projects to progress to construction will be published by my department shortly. 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 current status of all projects is listed on a county-by-county basis at [www.gov.ie]. and this is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.
