The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter my Department's pipeline for school building projects under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme to provide two mainstream classrooms. The project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority.
A Stage 1/2a report was received in November 2025. Following an initial review, the Department issued comments and recommendations to the school authority, requesting that these be addressed and a revised report was requested. The revised Stage 2a report was received in March 2026 and is currently under review. As with all school building projects, this project will be subject to the necessary due diligence outlined in the Infrastructure Guidelines. Managing timing, scope, and cost is crucial to ensuring that the overall school building programme remains within the funding parameters.
My department has a strong track record of delivering the Government’s School Building Programme with over €6 billion invested since 2020.
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 sets out my department’s approach to prioritised investment in school infrastructure. There is a strong focus in the plan on maximising existing capacity and prioritising project rollout to meet the most urgent needs particularly to support special education needs provision.
The project at the school in question forms part of this overall pipeline of school building projects that will continue to be managed in line with available NDP funding.
