Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy the Minister is very committed to this project. Since 2020, the Department of Education has invested in the region of €4.3 billion in schools throughout the country, involving the completion of more than 800 school building projects, with construction currently under way at approximately 300 other projects, including 34 new school buildings. The 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of more than €1.2 billion. There are also 90 projects currently at tender stage, including a further 28 new school buildings. There is a record level of investment in schools and new school buildings under the Minister, Deputy Foley.

I will relay to her the Deputy's urgency on the issue of the school becoming co-educational. The position of the Department of Education in respect of post-primary or primary schools requesting to become co-educational is that the decision-making authority belongs to the patron of the school in question, as the Deputy has acknowledged. Any proposal to change the status of a school requires consultation with the relevant stakeholders, including parents, teachers, students, local communities and patrons of other schools in the school planning area. Such proposals must then be applied for and agreed with the Department of Education, which undertakes a review of such proposals. It should be noted that each change of status within a school is dealt with on a case-by-case basis by an officer of the Department of Education.

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