Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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100. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of an extension for a school (details supplied). [5057/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The purpose of my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) programme 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.

I can confirm to the Deputy that the school referred to has been approved for a project under my Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme and has been devolved to the school for delivery.  The project will provide the following accommodation at the school:

3 Mainstream classrooms and 1 x SEN Base Unit, consisting of a SEN Classroom Base, Safe Space, Multi-sensory room and toilet.

This year, my Department will invest in excess of €2 billion, or over 25% of the Department’s budget in the area of special educational needs support. As a result, the numbers of special education teachers, special needs assistants and special class and school places are at unprecedented levels.

Over the last two years, the Department and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) have worked closely on a more streamlined and joined up planning process which has ensured a targeted approach to meet demand for special education placements ahead of each new school year.  The Department continues to work with the NCSE in relation to the short-term requirements for special class and special school places and also the more strategic and longer-term requirements.  

Further to this and as part of my Department’s ongoing assessment of enrolment requirements for 2023 and the associated work programme, my officials have already engaged with the school authorities in question and issued approval of an additional special education needs (SEN) base and this has been accepted by the school authority. This additional provision of a second SEN to the school will be devolved for delivery to the school authority and the Department will be available to the school for assistance throughout the process to ensure delivery of the project.

While the school authority has identified a technical challenge presented by the current project, my Department is committed to providing the school with the additional accommodation it needs to provide a suitable learning environment for its pupils and the community as soon as possible. Following a review of the project by the professional and technical officials in my Department which identified and assessed all options to progress this project, my officials are engaging directly with the school authority to ensure this important project proceeds and we are making progress and I am confident we are making progress. 

My Department has a strong track record of delivery of school building projects and this was achieved again in 2022 notwithstanding the wider construction sector environment of high inflation, labour shortages and supply chain issues. This is evidenced by the fact that there are currently 300 school building projects at construction stage and a further 1,000 at pre-construction stage.