James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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336. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if each school in County Wexford that does not have a physical education hall will be provided with same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15107/18]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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337. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there is a standard size for a school hall; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15108/18]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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338. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the schools in County Wexford that have applied for a new school hall or an upgrade to their school hall; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15109/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 336 to 338, inclusive, together.

I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is fully committed to providing that schools who wish to offer the new Leaving Certificate Physical Education Specification and the Senior Cycle Physical Education Framework (non-examinable) in the future will be able to do so.

The Deputy will be aware that under the National Development Plan (NDP), increased funding has been provided for the school sector capital investment programme.  This funding allows for a continued focus on the provision of new permanent school places to keep pace with demographic demand and also provides for an additional focus on the refurbishment of existing school buildings to include the building and modernisation of PE facilities in post-primary schools.

Under the Ireland Project 2040, we will invest €8.4 billion (compared to €4.9 billion in the previous decade) in primary and post primary school buildings. This will include the provision of 50 large scale school building projects and 20,000 school places in state of the art new buildings.

This ramp up in funding will take place progressively over the period of the NDP, with significant increases becoming available in later years. The immediate priority of my Department is providing 20,000 new and replacement school places each year, to ensure that every child has a school place.

I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has received an application for capital funding to provide a new P.E. Hall from the C.B.S. Secondary School, New Ross. The increased funding being provided over the period of the NDP will provide an increased scope at that time to address applications from schools such as CBS Secondary School, New Ross. I also wish to advise the Deputy that every new post primary school is built with state of the art P.E. facilities. The typical size of a new PE hall is 1,048 sq. metres; this may sometimes vary depending on site conditions etc.