Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2026
490. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will address serious concerns raised in correspondence regarding a Kildare school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14224/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe major project for the school referred to by the Deputy is now at an advanced stage of Architectural Planning - Stage 2(b) - Detailed Design, which includes the application for statutory approvals, which have been secured, and the preparation of tender documents.
My department received the Stage 2b submission report from the Design Team Autumn 2024 . My department commenced a detailed review of this report by the multi disciplinary team. On completion of this review, my Department issued comments to the Design Team requesting clarification. The Design Team have recently returned this information and their response is currently under review.
My Department will continue to liaise with the school and their patrons with regards the further progression of the project.
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.
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.
My department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years with the continued rollout of these 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 the project at St. Annes Special School, The Curragh and 9 other projects in County Kildare.
These projects are in addition to €397.08 million in capital funding for Kildare schools between 2020 and 2025. Over that period, a total of 47 schools have been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation. There are currently 9 school projects in Kildare under construction.
Another 12 school projects will go to tender or construction in 2026 and 2027, and this summer, 5 schools are approved to undergo works as part of the Summer Works Scheme / Climate Action scheme. In addition, since 2020 a total of 74 special classes have been opened in Kildare, 11 of which were sanctioned for September 2026.
The 105 prioritised projects will progress to tender and/or construction on a rolling basis over the course of 2026 and 2027 and within the context of NDP funding parameters. The timing of project progression will reflect the need to carefully manage the rollout of these projects to construction on a controlled basis to ensure that projects are delivered efficiently, align with the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines and Capital Works Management Framework and remain within the parameters of NDP funding.
Department officials will continue to engage closely with patron bodies, management bodies, and schools with respect to the timing of the progression of projects to tender and/or construction over the period 2026 to 2027. This will include continued engagement with St. Annes Special School, The Curragh, with respect to the progression of its project to tender.
The current status of all projects continues to be 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.
The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools and the Programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day-to-day running costs.
The commitment in the Programme for Government builds on the progress which has been made in recent years. The Department has secured €39 million in Budget 2026 towards increased capitation funding for primary, post-primary and special schools to provide additional financial support towards their running costs. This will see an increase in the standard capitation rates paid to schools of €50 per pupil for primary schools from €224 to €274 and of €20 per student for post-primary schools from €386 to €406. This will also allow for an increase of €20 in capitation rates for Urban Band One DEIS primary schools, increasing the mainstream pupil rate in these schools to €294. The increased capitation rates will also see special schools now receive the same rates of mainstream capitation, for young people aged 12 and over, as for their peers in mainstream post-primary schools. These increases will take effect from September 2026. This funding will benefit schools around the country in managing their day-to-day running costs.
The increases announced in Budget 2026 are in addition to the 12% increases as part of Budget 2025. The last three Budgets have resulted in an increase in the level of capitation grant rates of 49.7% (€91) paid to primary schools and 28.5% (€90) paid to post-primary schools.
The Department is committed to providing funding to recognised primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the capitation grant to cater for day-to-day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general up-keep, and the ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff. Schools have the flexibility to use capitation funding provided for general running costs and ancillary funding provided for caretaking and secretarial services as a common grant from which the Board of Management can allocate according to its own priorities, except for the employment of relevant secretaries as per Circular 0036/2022.
The current standard rate of capitation grant is €224 per pupil in primary schools and €386 per student in post-primary schools. Primary schools with fewer than 60 pupils are paid the capitation and the ancillary grants on the basis of having 60 pupils. Enhanced rates are also paid in respect of pupils with special educational needs and Traveller pupils.
OGP frameworks are available to schools for a number of categories including facilities management, managed services, professional services, and utilities. Schools should ensure that they are availing of these available OGP procurement frameworks in order to get the best value for money for all school expenditure, in accordance with Circular 0060/2013. The benefits arising from these frameworks include cash savings, administrative savings from reduced duplication of tendering, greater purchasing expertise, improved consistency, enhanced service levels and legal certainty. Schools Procurement Unit (SPU), funded by the Department, is an important source of advice and support to schools on procurement matters - www.spu.ie
Schools in financial difficulty are encouraged to contact my Department for advice and support. The Department is committed to offering all available and appropriate supports to schools, which may include an advance in capitation grant funding or other measures.
The Department is constantly engaging with a number of schools in this respect. Schools that have contacted the Department have been referred to the FSSU.
The FSSU, on behalf of the Department, plays a crucial role in this process. In order for the Department to assess the current financial situation, the school needs to engage with the FSSU for this purpose.
The purpose of the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies, or to provide funding to facilitate inclusion and access for pupils with special needs. It does so by ensuring the availability of funding for urgent works to those schools that are in need of resources as a result of an emergency situation.
An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action, and in the case of a school, if not corrected would prevent the school or part thereof from opening.
The EWS operates on the basis of a minimal scope works to address the emergency situation. The EWS is intended to remedy an emergency situation and usually provides only an interim measure until a permanent solution can be delivered under the Summer Works Scheme (SWS) which deals with upgrade works to the school.
The school in question currently have no outstanding EWS applications with the Department of Education and Youth.
