Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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330. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if any capital works projects under the remit of her Department received EU funding in the years of 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023; if so, the name of the capital works project; and the amount of EU funding received per capital project, in tabular form. [6676/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) has been developed by the Government so that Ireland can access funding under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. Ireland is expected to receive €988 million in grants under the Facility.

The Recovery and Resilience Facility is the largest component of NextGenerationEU, the European Union’s response to the global pandemic. The aim is to help repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the pandemic and to prepare for a post-Covid Europe that is greener, more digital, more resilient and fit to face the future.

Under this facility, the Department of Education applied for and received funding in respect of two projects to provide digital infrastructure and funding to schools, high speed broadband connectivity for primary schools where the National Broadband Plan and commercial provision will not provide such connectivity (Project A), and funding for schools to provide for interventions to address the digital divide, particularly access to digital devices and relevant ICT infrastructure (Project B).

Project A has secured funding of some €13.5m. This supports the broadband intervention project whereby those primary schools outside of the National Broadband Plan Intervention area, and in areas where commercial provision is insufficient, will be provided with high speed connectivity of 100 Mbp/s or greater. Through this project, the National Broadband Plan Intervention Area implementation, and commercial provision, it is intended to provide high speed connectivity to all primary schools by the middle of 2023. This will all operate under the Schools Broadband Programme. Implementation of this project, led by a Steering Group including representatives from my Department, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, HEAnet, and the PDST, is underway.

Project B provided €50m in funding for schools in late 2021. This funding issued through a one-off scheme to schools, targeting those learners most at risk of educational disadvantage through lack of access to ICT equipment. While available data shows that some schools have concentrated levels of disadvantage it is also the case that other schools may have learners at risk of educational disadvantage among their student cohort. Schools are best placed to identify and address inequalities to ensure those learners most at risk are supported and have access to the appropriate digital technologies required to give them every opportunity to fulfil their educational potential and gain key digital skills as part of their education.