St Thomas JNS & Scoil Áine SNS
The joint school building project will deliver two new 24 classroom primary schools with accommodation for children with special educational needs, at the current site in Lucan.
The project is currently at an early stage of Architectural Planning Stage 1 – Initial Sketch Scheme. A preferred design option has been agreed by all Stakeholders and my Department have requested the Design Team to further assess the proposed construction programme and methodology.
The stage 1 report was received by my Department in May 2025 and is currently under review. Upon completion of the review, my Department will advise both schools and their design team regarding project progression.
With regard to this campus project referenced by the Deputy, this project is at preliminary design (Stage 1) and was therefore not at an appropriate stage of readiness for inclusion in the initial tranche of projects for tender and construction.
Divine Mercy JNS & SNS
This joint school building project will deliver a new extension and refurbishment of some existing accommodation to provide a 24 classroom primary school with classrooms for children with special educational needs, at both schools.
The schedule of accommodation was recently increased to include SEN accommodation and the design options submitted by the Design Team are being evaluated by my Department.
A meeting of all stakeholders is anticipated to be held in the near future, to discuss and agree a preferred option which can be further developed and prepared to be submitted for planning permission.
Lucan Community College
The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is a large scale capital project for the construction of a new extension and the refurbishment of existing facilities to accommodate 1,000 pupils, including provision for Special Educational Needs (SEN) classrooms.
More than four years has elapsed since the publication of the contract notice and more than two years since the tender submission deadline. Given the passage of time since tenders were returned and the unacceptably high risk that the contract may not successfully be delivered within budget, the ETB were instructed to collapse the tender procedure in July 2025.
My Department officials have engaged with the ETB and School Principal and have proposed to progress a phase 1 of this project through my Department’s timber modular framework which offers an extremely high quality finish and fast delivery.
The proposal relates to Phase 1 of the school extension, covering a gross internal floor area of 1,500 m² includes the superstructure and internal finishes containing additional accommodation for 204 pupils and 4 additional classrooms for pupils with Special Educational Needs with sufficient flexibility to cater for subsequent phases on the site.
As the Deputy will be aware, I have recently published the €7.55 billion NDP Sectoral Investment Plan for the Education and Youth Sectors for the period 2026 to 2030. This NDP Sectoral Plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. In this regard there will be a strong special education dimension to project rollout.
St. Kevin's Community College, Clondalkin
I wish to advise the Deputy that my department is in receipt of an application for capital funding, under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question.
I can confirm to the Deputy that the school's application is being considered by my officials and they have been in contact with the school authorities in relation to this application. My officials remain available to work with the school authorities throughout this process. I can assure the Deputy that the application will be progressed as soon as possible and an official decision will issue to the school authorities directly.
Regarding the schools mentioned above, of the total €7.55 billion investment it is envisaged that circa. €5 billion will be used for project rollout to support the delivery and modernisation of school buildings across the Large Scale, Additional Accommodation, Modular, and Annual September Accommodation Needs programmes. Over the course of 2026 and 2027 there will be construction work at circa. 10% of the school estate. These projects will, when completed, provide circa 57,000 additional and modernised school places with a strong SEN focus in all projects.
My department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years with the continued rollout of projects on a prioritised basis to meet the most urgent needs in terms of provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing facilities. In this regard, I have also published a list of the 105 school building projects in the first tranche to proceed to construction or tender over 2026 and 2027.
This list includes 20 projects in County Dublin. The Deputy will be aware that there are two priority projects in Lucan on the list for rollout, modular extensions at Lucan Community College and Lucan Boys NS.
These projects are in addition to €1,794.95 million in capital funding for Dublin schools between 2020 and 2025. Over that period, a total of 244 schools have been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation. There are also currently 64 school projects in Dublin under construction.
The first tranche of 105 school building projects includes 80 large scale and Additional School Accommodation scheme projects. These projects were prioritised with a strong focus on maximising existing capacity and prioritising project rollout to meet the most urgent needs particularly to support special education needs provision.
Firstly, to facilitate the 45 projects that are currently already at tender stage (Stage 3) so that they can progress to construction as smoothly as possible over the course of 2026 and 2027. Secondly, to facilitate 35 projects that currently have planning permission and are at pre-tender stage (Stage 2b) and have been prioritised to meet urgent requirements from a special needs perspective or to provide additional capacity to cater for demographics or to address very significant condition issues at the schools.
I recognise that there are schools with important building projects that are not included in the first tranche of prioritised projects.
As part of planning ahead for the next tranche of projects to progress to tender, the department-led prioritisation process will continue over the course of 2026 and 2027 to assess and evaluate the progression of individual projects through the design pipeline having regard to the continual need to maximise existing capacity and determine the prioritised needs going forward. This process will involve engagement with key stakeholders and individual schools and will ultimately inform the next tranches of programme rollout to tender. The department-led Energy and Condition Survey of the school estate, which will be finalised later in 2026, will provide an additional evidence base for assessing priorities.
Based on this ongoing prioritisation process some projects may be added to the list over the course of 2026 and 2027 having regard to their prioritisation and urgency of need and taking account also of the ongoing ability to progress them to tender and construction within the parameters of overall funding. Where appropriate, the department will also assess opportunities to undertake advance enabling works for the most urgent and complex projects to facilitate a smooth progression to construction in 2028 and beyond.
Any interim accommodation requirements will continue to be assessed and considered by the department on a case-by-case basis to determine the prioritised needs and approach for addressing same.
The accommodation needs at the schools referred to above will be considered as part of the ongoing overall department-led prioritisation process, in consultation with the school’s patron and school authorities.
