Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 May 2026
548. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the reason for the reduction in the number of school building projects completed in recent years as set out in her Department’s Vote performance indicators; the actions she is taking to accelerate delivery of new school buildings and avoid further delays for pupils in temporary accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39002/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department of Education and Youth has a very strong track record of capital delivery with over 1,400 Large Scale, Additional Accommodation and Modular school building projects completed since 2020, along with over 4,000 small-scale improvement works to meet priority maintenance and advance energy efficiency and climate goals. We have 260-300 projects under construction at any one time. It is envisaged that works will be taking place at over 1,000 of our 4,000 schools during 2026. This includes projects already at construction, large-scale project roll-out, other extension projects, repurposing works for special classes, the Climate Action Summer Works Scheme and the Climate programme. This represents about 25% of the school estate.
Since 2020 the Department has invested over €7.7 billion in capital funding, of which over €6.9 billion has been invested in the School Building Programme. This investment has delivered real benefits for school communities.
My Department published its NDP Sectoral Investment Plan for Education and Youth in January 2026, with an allocation of €7.55 billion over the period 2026 to 2030. This plan places a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project rollout for Large-Scale projects and Additional School Accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project rollout over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs. A first tranche of projects to progress to tender and/or construction during 2026 and 2027 was published in January 2026. Prioritisation will continue to identify further tranches of projects to proceed to tender and construction over the NDP period, with stakeholder consultation to commence in June 2026 and the next tranche of projects to be published in Q4 2026/Q1 2027. Our NDP Implementation Plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money, and meets functional needs.
Under the previous National Development Plan (NDP) and Vote 26 (Education) performance targets, the Department of Education operated an official baseline target of delivering between 150 to 200 completed school building projects per year which the Department achieved each year. Moving into the new 2026–2030 NDP cycle, the indicator shifts to focus on the rollout of 300 projects currently active at construction (the majority expected to complete between 2026 and 2027) alongside a new priority list of 105 newly sanctioned school building projects.
