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

I thank Deputy Nash. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Education, who in unable be here. I can understand the frustration of the principal of Ardee Educate Together National School. I know the great work Educate Together schools do nationally.

I thank Deputy Nash for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the current position as to the development of the new school building for Ardee Educate Together National School. The brief for this major school building project is to provide an eight-classroom school with an additional four-classroom special educational needs base included. As the Deputy stated, the school already provides that service. Responsibility for the delivery of this project has been devolved to Louth County Council, which will act as the contracting authority for the project. The project is currently at tender stage, which is a very critical point in the process.

The Department of Education is experiencing capital pressures. These pressures on the capital allocation have been compounded since the 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 international protection system. The national priority within the NDP to increase 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 on funding for various school projects.

We hope that they will be concluded relatively soon.

On the project itself, the brief for the school is for eight classrooms with four classrooms with a special educational needs, SEN, base included. This was upgraded from two to four SEN-based classrooms in December 2020 following consultation between the Department, Louth County Council, the school and its design team. However, I understand from Deputy Nash's initial contribution that four special education classes are being provided in the school at present, so it is obvious that is what would be required. The enrolment increased from 177 in 2020 to 187 in 2021 and 198 in 2022. Deputy Nash referred to there being 208 students currently, with four special classrooms for children with autism.

The Department states that it is a challenging project to plan, as significant archaeological finds have been recorded in and around the vicinity of the site. There is also a need to carefully plan and design the site's road access from the N52. This prolonged the planning process, but planning permission was granted in July 2018. The Department is engaging to facilitate the provision of sufficient school places for all children, including those with special educational needs, for the coming 2023 to 2024 school year. The Department is engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform in regard to capital funding pressures in order to continue to be able to adequately support the operation of the school system with the roll-out of the school building project to tender and construction in 2023 and to minimise project delays to the greatest extent possible. It is hoped that the discussions will conclude reasonably quickly and that the building of the school can proceed as planned.

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