Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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422. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the up-to-date position regarding the provision of a new school (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62919/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an application from the school in question for major capital works comprising of a new school building.

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.

Currently my Department has a significant existing pipeline of projects to be delivered over the coming years to meet capacity needs managed under the Large-Scale Capital Programme (LSCP) and the Additional School Accommodation Scheme (ASA). The LSCP application from the school in question will be considered in due course.

Should the 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 ASA 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 mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation. 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 National Development Plan will see an increasing focus on the upgrade and refurbishment of the existing school stock.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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423. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the up-to-date position regarding the provision of a new school (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62920/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to advise the Deputy that a building project for the school to which he refers, is being devolved for delivery to the Joint Managerial Body (JMB).

The brief for this project includes the extension, refurbishment and re-purposing of existing accommodation to accommodate a long-term projected enrolment (LTPE) figure of 750 pupils and also includes a 3-Class SEN Base.

The execution of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between my Department and the JMB is currently being arranged and will be the next and final step in finalising this brief. Once the SLA is in place, the JMB will procure a Design Team for the project to design the buildings, obtain the necessary statutory planning permissions, and move the project onward to tender and construction in due course.

As the project has not yet commenced architectural planning, it is too early in the process to provide a timeline for completion of the works.