In September 2025 the Department received an application for funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school referred to by the Deputy for a Music room, Textiles room, Design and Computer Graphics room, Multimedia room and a Science lab and Prep area.
The school had previously received approval for a traditional build project for a Home economics room, an Engineering room and prep area, and a Construction studies prep area, and this project is currently at stage 2b.
In addition, the school was approved two modular Mainstream classrooms in 2023, and this project is now complete.
The school in question also submitted an application under the ASA scheme in February 2025, for special class accommodation and a replacement mainstream classroom. The school had requested that this accommodation be added to their traditional build project. However given the delays this would have entailed, the school agreed to allow its ongoing project to proceed, and to have its accommodation needs reviewed at a later stage. The school were advised as an interim measure, that they could apply for funding to reconfigure current accommodation for a special class.
Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of almost 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.
Following a total capital allocation of €1.6 billion for 2025, the Government announced a further 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. The approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate. Re-purposing 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. To support the delivery of special classes in good time, a new streamlined approach to funding was made available to re-purpose existing accommodation for SEN in 2025. Further information on SEN re-purposing supports can be accessed on [www.gov.ie]. The department will continue to engage directly with the school in order to provide an optimum approach for supporting special education provision in the area.
The school’s applications for additional accommodation are currently being considered in this context, and once a decision has been made the school will be informed directly in the first instance.
