Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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316. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which the school building programme can remain on target in the current and coming years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5502/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The National Development Plan sets out the national priorities and funding levels for the school building programme.  Key priorities under the National Development Plan 2021 to 2030 include:

Continuing to cater for additional capacity requirements

Provision of accommodation for special classes with a particular emphasis on ramping up provision at post-primary level to facilitate a smooth transition from primary level

- Delivering on Climate Action agenda and integrating, where possible, on modernisation of existing school infrastructure

- Strengthening asset management and maintenance regime across schools

My Department has a strong track record of delivery.  During the period 2018 to 2022, nearly 900 school building projects were completed.

Through Project Ireland 2040, we are investing €4.4 billion over the period 2021 to 2025, to add capacity and develop and upgrade school facilities across the country for the almost one million students and over 100,000 staff that learn and work in our schools every day.

The key drivers of capital investment in the schools sector are as follows:

- demographic change, including keeping pace with delivery of SEN and accommodation for Ukrainian pupils particularly at Post Primary

- alignment with housing provision and national planning at school planning area level,

- construction costs,

- climate action objectives including deep energy retrofit. 

The continued high level of construction inflation (21% in the schools sector between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022) together with the increased requirements in terms of demographics, SEN and Ukrainian students all add to capital funding pressures to be managed.  In this regard, additional supplementary funding of €300m was provided in 2022 to support this strong project rollout.  

These challenges will continue to be managed as best as possible in 2023 and beyond and it is envisaged that they will also get reflected, as appropriate, in the next review of the overall NDP allocations that is due to take place later in 2023.

We continue to have a strong pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme involving circa 300 projects at construction and in excess of 1,000 projects at the various stages of appraisal and design.  

The current status of all projects is listed on the Department’s website and this is updated on a monthly basis as part of our overall communications.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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317. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which she continues to be in a position to meet accommodation requirements in both primary and second level schools in all areas throughout the country, with particular reference to Kildare North; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5503/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose.  Additionally, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform my Department's projections of school place requirements. 

While my Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional school places in North Kildare, it is important to note that where enrolment pressures arise, it may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may be driven by the following factors:

- Duplication of applications – pupils have applied for a place to a number of schools in the area

- School of choice – pupils can’t get a place in their preferred school while there are places in other schools in the town/area

- Some towns/areas have single sex schools and while places are available in the school they are not available to all pupils

- External draw – pupils coming from outside the local area

My Department is working to establish the true extent of any capacity issues across school planning areas through ongoing discussions with the relevant school patrons and authorities. 

This close engagement will allow my Department to identify at an early stage particular capacity requirements for the forthcoming years which may necessitate further action to that already in train including, where required, the provision of modular accommodation solutions.