Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to confirm to the Deputy, that the school in question was approved capital funding under my Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme for 1x Mainstream Classroom and 2x Special Education Needs Classrooms. As part of this project brief, interim accommodation was approved for a Special Education needs classroom. This project has been devolved to the school authorities for delivery and is currently at stage 1 - preliminary design.

I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department has recently received an application for additional school accommodation (ASA) 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 or at other schools in the area.

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 National Council for Special Education (NCSE), and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes. The capacity at other schools in the area is also considered as part of the assessment of any accommodation needs.

The consideration of the accommodation requirements for the school in question forms part of the Planning and Building Unit’s overall assessment of its work programme and priorities in the context of available capital funding. It is not possible to give an indication at this point in time of the timeframe for the provision of additional accommodation at the school as the school's application is under assessment. Once the application has been assessed, the school authority will be contacted directly with a decision. I can only seek to assure you that we will advance this matter as quickly as possible and that we are very conscious that where additional school places and accommodation are required, a significant lead-in time is necessary for a variety of reasons.

The provision of required school places, including for children with special educational needs, is a priority for my Department. My officials are working to ensure that there is sufficient provision to meet the school place needs in the school in question and the wider area for 2024/25 and future years