Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that, due to the need to prioritise mainstream and SEN school place requirements, funding for PE halls is not included under the parameters of the Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) scheme.

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.

The Deputy will be aware that I recently met with the school in question and outlined the position to them. The additional accommodation project approved for the school includes four mainstream classes and a two class SEN base.

The Department has to prioritise its limited capital resources, in the context both of the ongoing requirement for additional school places, including SEN places, and the high construction inflation which has significantly impacted on the cost of projects that we must deliver. As part of the its planning for the years ahead, my Department is engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in relation to capital funding pressures and ongoing deficits in school accommodation, including the small proportion of schools which do not have, or have access to, a PE hall.