Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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180. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the accommodation needs for a school (details supplied); if this is under review by her Department; if the drawings and plans drawn up in 2010 for a new building within the school are still valid and actionable; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20726/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has no current record of receiving an application for additional accommodation from the school in question.

The purpose of my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (or ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom accommodation and accommodation for pupils with special education needs is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation.

At primary level, this situation generally arises to cater for a school’s accommodation requirements where an additional teaching post has been sanctioned by Teacher Allocation Section, or the requirement for a new class for pupils with special education needs has been identified by the NCSE, and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes.

It is open to the school authority to make an application for additional accommodation through the 'Additional School Accommodation scheme (ASA)' which is available at www.education.ie.