John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Helen McEntee. I thank the Senator for raising the matter of the status of a new school application for Scoil Mhuire, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim.

Scoil Mhuire is a co-educational school under Catholic patronage. As the Senator rightly pointed out, it is the result of an amalgamation in September 2013 of the local boys' and girls' national schools. The current staffing at the school is a principal, plus 19 mainstream posts and six special education posts. There are currently 465 pupils enrolled in the school.

The priority in the Department is to ensure the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post-primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs. Applications from schools for major capital works must be considered in the context of capacity requirements and climate action commitments. The Department’s approach is to maximise the usage of existing capacity in schools and manage the progression of the existing pipeline of projects within its allocated capital funding envelope, in line with the Government’s infrastructure guidelines.

Maximising existing capacity in schools to meet needs is very important from both a climate agenda and budgetary perspective. The plan for working this through at a national scale will be informed by the outcome of the energy and condition surveys of all schools, which are currently under way and due for completion by mid-2026. The subsequent analysis of this significant amount of data will take some time but will help determine priorities going forward in respect of retrofit and refurbishment projects. The process may ultimately identify a requirement for the replacement of some accommodation, but this is not expected to be widespread. This overall process is particularly valuable in facilitating a proportionate assessment of a school’s accommodation upgrade needs relative to all other schools and allows an effective prioritisation of capital investment.

The programme for Government recognises the importance of strong capital investment in the school building programme and supporting this with enhanced allocations through the national development plan process. Since 2020, the Department of education has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the national development plan, involving the completion of over 1,400 school building projects. Government support for this investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, has delivered real benefits for school communities. A recent Government decision approved €210 million in supplementary capital funding from the Department, which brings the total capital allocation for 2025 to €1.6 billion.

As part of the NDP review process, all Departments, including the Department of Education and Youth, are currently engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation with respect to NDP allocations for the period 2026 to 2030. It is expected that there will be clarity on these allocations over the course of the summer period. This will allow the Department of Education and Youth to plan its capital programme for the 2026 to 2030 period in line with prioritised needs and reflecting, as appropriate, wider Government priorities. Maximising existing capacity in schools to meet needs is very important. The progression of prioritised individual projects to meet the most urgent needs in the 2026 to 2030 period that cannot be met through existing capacity across schools in the local area will be considered on a rolling basis from autumn onwards after the NDP allocations are finalised.