Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will give this response on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, as it gives me the opportunity to provide an update to the House on the current position regarding the school building programme and a number of school building projects, which are on hold from proceeding to either tender or construction due to capital funding pressures.

The Department’s capital allocation has always been under significant pressure and it has a strong track record of fully utilising it and, in many years, requiring supplementary capital funding to deliver urgently required school building projects. Pressures on the capital allocation have been compounded since the national development plan, NDP, allocations were determined in 2021 by the impact of high construction inflation, the increasing prevalence of autism and other complex special education needs, which requires the accelerated delivery of special educational needs provision at pace and the urgent need to provide capacity for students from Ukraine and other countries under the international protection system.

The national priority within the NDP for increasing the roll-out of housing is also adding to pressures on the Department’s capital allocation, given the knock-on impact for additional school provision requirements. The Department's published NDP allocation for 2023 is €860 million. As part of its planning ahead for 2023, the Department is engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform with regard to capital funding pressures in order to continue to be able to adequately support the operation of the school system, with roll-out of school building projects to tender and construction in 2023, including the projects referenced in recent media reports.

More than 180 school building projects were delivered during 2022, which included accelerated delivery of modular accommodation to support provision for 900 pupils with special educational needs. Approximately 300 school building projects continued in construction at the start of 2023, most of which will be completed in 2023 and early 2024. They include more than 40 new school buildings, some of which the Deputy has referenced. All of these projects are helping to support the operation of our schools, are delivering to the highest standards and are very energy efficient. This strong level of delivery is a key driver of capital pressures in the Department. Some 73% of the NDP allocation for 2023 is needed to cover expenditure on contractual commitments on approximately 300 existing projects at construction carried forward from 2022. Other key achievements under the school building programme in 2022 include strategic initiatives put in place to support planning for school provision requirements and also the setting up of 16 regional education and language teams.

The Deputy can see the rest of the response. I will refer directly to the issue the Deputy raised. The current status of all school building projects, including those in Dublin South-West, is listed on a county-by-county basis on gov.ieand these lists are updated on a regular basis to reflect projects' progression through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction. If I am correct, the schools the Deputy is talking about are Coláiste Pobail Fóla, St. Aidan's Community School in Tallaght, which is a replacement school, and Tallaght Community School, which is a new school.

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