Eoghan Kenny
Ceist:467. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Youth for update on a project (details supplied; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36614/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 19 May 2026
Ceisteanna (467)
Freagraí scríofa
The department has published the NDP (National Development Plan) Sectoral Investment Plan for the Education and Youth Sectors 2026-2030. 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 while within the allocated capital funding across all schools in the country.
This allows the department to keep a strong focus on the provision of additional capacity to cater for demographics, new housing developments and the roll-out of additional special classes for children with additional needs. This approach reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.
The 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, there will continue to be a strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity across the school estate and also ensuring that school admissions policies and processes are targeted at meeting local mainstream and special class requirements.
A 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. This process will involve engagement with key stakeholders and individual schools and will ultimately inform the next tranches of programme rollout to tender. The ongoing nationwide Energy and Condition Survey of the school estate will provide another valuable evidence base.
My department constantly monitors demographic requirements in the context of current and planned residential development activity. The pace of delivery of additional residential development in school planning areas, along with updated enrolment data and demographic data will be kept under review and this will inform the timing of school requirements. The department regularly engages with Cork County Council in respect of its Development Plan and Local Area Plans, with a view to identifying any potential long-term school accommodation requirements across all settlements throughout the county, of which Mallow is one. The current variation to the County Development Plan 2022-2028 relates to proposed increases in housing target numbers for Mallow. The department is engaging with the various consultation phases of the statutory plan process that applies to this variation. The outcome of this process is still to be determined as the adoption date of the variation into the County Development Plan has yet to be identified by the Council.
My department will continue to liaise with the school authority in this regard.