Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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407. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will expedite permission to proceed with construction work for approved additional accommodation without further delay at a school (details supplied) which includes a two-class SEN base, an additional SET room and an assisted users' WC; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49814/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The school to which the Deputy refers was granted approval under the Additional Accommodation Scheme 2021.

The approval was for the provision of 1 SET Room, 2 Classroom SEN Base and 1 User Assisted WC. The project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority and is currently at the Design Stage. At this early stage of the architectural planning process, it is not possible for my Department to predict when this project will go to construction.

As this project has been devolved to the school authority for delivery, it is currently the responsibility of the school and its appointed Design Team to progress the project in that regard.

Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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408. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the need to upgrade and retrofit the old part of a school building (details supplied); if the building can be assessed to establish the level of work required; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35391/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the National Development Plan 2021-2030 provides capital funding of over €4.4bn for investment in school infrastructure during the period 2021 to 2025. My Department’s priority in recent years has been providing additional capacity to provide the required school places and this continues to be the case.

However, under the NDP allocation for the School Education sector there will be provision for a number of key initiatives, including a strengthened focus on refurbishment and modernisation of existing school stock as part of underpinning the transition of the school system to an era of Net Zero carbon by 2050.

My Department and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications have established a jointly funded pathfinder programme with the SEAI, testing and demonstrating energy efficiency and decarbonisation retrofit approaches. This Pathfinder programme is paving the way for, and informing, a much larger national programme for the energy retrofit of schools built prior to 2008 as included in the National Development Plan.

Appropriate retrofit and modernisation works for all such schools, including for the school in question, will be considered in this context in due course.