Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am conscious and aware of both schools. I regularly visit schools, including the two the Deputy has mentioned.

My Department has a strong focus on provision for school place needs, underpinned by robust forward planning including demographic analysis informed by residential development plans. Dunshaughlin is an area that has seen significant growth. It will continue to see that growth, thankfully, in the years head.

Under the NDP, my Department's approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance while, of course, providing the necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project roll-out over the course of the period 2026 to 2030 to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.

The major building project for the schools referred to by the Deputy, Coláiste Ríoga and Dunshaughlin Community National School, are part of my Department's employer-led design programme and will be delivered as a campus project, providing additional school places to meet the needs of the growing population.

This campus will deliver a new primary school, which includes two classrooms for children with special educational needs. It also includes a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school, including six classrooms for children with special educational needs.

These projects progressed to tender on 12 December 2024 and the tender period closed on 26 February. After due diligence was carried out and discussions with contractors, the companies that placed first and second withdrew their tenders. This is not something that always happens but, unfortunately, in this instance, it did. The letter of intent then issued to the third tenderer on 15 August - only in the past few months - and subsequent discussions regarding reserved specialist contractors are almost concluded.

These schools will meet a rising demand for school places in the Dunshaughlin area, which has seen increased residential developments, and will respond to what is a very clear need within both communities. My Department will continue to keep the school authorities informed with regard to getting construction commenced on this urgently required project. I hope we will be able to make progress in the very near future. We are coming towards the end of that current stage. It is again important to stress, and I think the community realises this, that there were a number more recently, in terms of the tender. The fact that contractors withdrew meant the timelines that had been set were, unfortunately, delayed. However, we are still on track to be able to start this project as soon as possible.

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