John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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395. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the details of the way a school that is not on the school building programme can access and commence planning work on accessing the school building programme; if the existing school building programme is a chronological one, for example, the way in which a school can access the school building programme if it is in a very bad state of repair and is not at present on the school building programme; the details of the way this works; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33452/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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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. The main focus of resources over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics.  The second half of the NDP (from 2023 onwards) will see an increasing focus on the upgrade and refurbishment of the existing school stock.

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.

In the interim, should a school authority consider that it does not have sufficient capacity, in terms of mainstream teaching accommodation, it is open to them to apply for accommodation under the Additional School Accommodation Scheme, details of which are available on my Department's website www.education.ie. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation. 

As the Deputy will be aware, a devolved Minor Works Grant is also payable to schools. This grant provides good flexibility at local school level to make improvements to the physical infrastructure of school buildings and it is open to schools to prioritise the works they wish to undertake within the terms of the scheme.