Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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231. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his policy with respect to the design, construction and provision of general purpose rooms for existing primary and post-primary schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53151/18]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that in the case of school projects, my Department's Technical Guidance Documents set out the general principles of Universal Design in schools.

A suite of technical guidance documents is available on the Department's website () to assist design teams in best practice design and development of projects and to encourage them to take a complete design team approach from project conception. These documents cover all aspects of the development of a building project for both internal and external works.

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.

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. The government will focus in the medium term on the provision of PE facilities in schools.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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232. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of general purpose rooms at both primary and post-primary school level for which approval has been formally granted in each of the years 2011 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form; if the school in question for which such a facility was granted was an existing school or a new school in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53152/18]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the provision of general purpose rooms and PE Halls form part of the accommodation brief for all newly established schools. These facilities may also form part of the overall accommodation brief for major capital extensions to existing schools. The accommodation brief for major capital projects also includes a range of other accommodation for the school project in question and my Department does not capture the specific information requested by the Deputy.

Details of large-scale projects being delivered under the school building programme may be viewed on my Department's website, and this information is updated regularly. In addition, a list of large-scale projects completed from 2010 to date may also be viewed on the website.