Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it gives me an opportunity to update the House on the current position regarding the major school building project for Ursuline College, Sligo. The project has been devolved to the school board of management for delivery, with the assistance of the joint managerial body. The brief for the project is to provide an extension and refurbishment which will deliver a 750-pupil post-primary school building.

The board of management has appointed a design team to design the accommodation being provided through the various stages of architectural planning. Projects progress from stage to stage in accordance with the project brief and the Department's design guidelines. The project for Ursuline College is currently at stage 2b, post-planning process of the architectural process, which allows for detailed design and planning, obtaining the necessary statutory permissions and preparing tender documents. At this juncture in the project, it is not feasible to give an indicative timeline for delivery. The Department will continue to engage directly with the school authority to provide assistance in regard to the project as required.

Since 2020, the Department has invested over €6 billion in schools throughout the country under the national development plan, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. In addition, repurposing and the optimisation of existing accommodation capacity across the school estate has been a key enabler of timely, local provision of special class capacity in a way that supports best practice in inclusion and integration. Eighty percent of new classes in 2025-26 are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation. In July, the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-30 under the national development plan. As part of this NDP allocation, the Department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. On project roll-out for large-scale projects and additional school accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance, and to provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project roll-out over the course of the 2026-30 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.