Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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338. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the current status of an approved building project for a school (details supplied) which includes five new classrooms as part of a two-storey extension; when this project will proceed to construction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22843/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme, from the school authority in question.

The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation 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 a new SEN class has been sanctioned by the NCSE, and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes.

Officials from my Department have corresponded with the school authority and will continue to liaise in respect of this application. Upon completion of the assessment process the school will be notified directly.