Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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756. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress of plans for additional accommodation for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39131/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application, for additional school accommodation, from the school authority in question.

The purpose of the ASA (Additional School Accommodation) 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's Professional and Technical section are currently reviewing the application and the site in question, to determine the feasibility of expansion here. Once this review has been finalised the school authority will be contacted directly with a decision.