Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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94. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will ensure that approval issues at an early date in respect of a building project for a school (details supplied) taking into account the accommodation needs of this school which have been outlined clearly to the Department and that the school is seeking basic accommodation and replacement of a much outdated prefab which was, in effect, a multi-purpose room; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40549/26]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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My question refers to Curravagh National School at Glangevlin in County Cavan. It is a small school and it has a 25-year-old prefab that needs to be replaced. It is 25 sq. m but the Department has offered a 19 sq. m replacement permanent building. On the advice of the Department the school partitioned that prefab some years ago so that it would have some accommodation for shared special education teacher, English language teacher, secretary and principal space. The school is requesting that the additional accommodation to be provided would equal the size of its existing prefab. It is a very basic ask. I ask the Minister to ask her officials to revisit the approval that has been issued by her Department.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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We are short of time so I ask for a single reply.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Okay. I can come back to the Deputy with further information. I can confirm that my Department is in receipt of an application for accommodation under the additional school accommodation scheme for the school referred to by the Deputy.

The application relates to the replacement of a prefab which is used as a special education tuition room and ancillary accommodation. The Department's assessment of this application needs to reflect the fact this is a two-teacher school, with a current enrolment of 20 pupils. While the school has two classrooms, it has very limited ancillary accommodation and my Department previously indicated to the school authority that it is prepared to approve a small special education tuition room for the school. While a special education tuition room does not reflect the full scale of additional and ancillary accommodation sought by the school authority, my Department considers this is the most important aspect to be prioritised at this time. However, my Department will continue to engage with the school authority on the matter, and I can come back to the Deputy on that.