Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to clarify the position in relation to the Department of Education and Youth’s plans for upgrading school buildings, including CBS, New Ross, County Wexford. As the Deputy is aware, he school had an enrolment in 2024 of 413 pupils. This represents an increase of 4% in the past five years. The Department approved significant capital funding for the school under the additional school accommodation scheme in 2019. The approved project was for the provision of four general classrooms, one special education tuition room, one DCG room and one home economics room. This project was devolved to the school authorities for delivery and the project is currently at tender stage.

The Department’s planning and building unit also received an application, in June 2017, from the school seeking capital funding for the provision of a PE hall. The school authority was informed in writing that it was not possible to consider the application at that time. However, approval was given to the school authorities in 2022 to include funding for master-planning the future build of a PE hall in conjunction with the 2019 project.

Since 2020, the Department has invested more than €6 billion in schools throughout the country, involving the completion of more than 1,375 school building projects. Between projects currently under construction and projects moving to construction in the coming months, investments by the Department of Education and Youth are adding more than 610,000 sq. m of new and modernised capacity to our school estate. This is a record level of investment in school buildings. It will expand the number of school places, significantly increase provision for special education and upgrade and modernise our school infrastructure. The impact of this will be felt in communities across the country.

The programme for Government recognises the importance of strong capital investment in the school building programme and supporting this with enhanced allocations through the NDP process. A future strengthened focus on refurbishment of existing school stock will have different strands and will include a PE build and modernisation programme which will enable students in post-primary schools to have access to appropriate facilities to support PE provision, particularly in the context of the roll-out of PE as a leaving certificate subject. Enhanced and modernised PE facilities will also provide important amenities for local communities. However, the main focus of the Department’s capital funding over the past decade and for the coming period is on the provision of critical additional capacity to cater for changing demographics and children with special educational needs. The Department manages the overall school building programme, ensuring that areas under the greatest pressure for additional school places are prioritised. This reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.

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