Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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194. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the construction for the new classroom will commence for a school (details supplied). [30881/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the department’s pipeline of school buildings for a project to provide a Special Education Needs classroom. The project was devolved for delivery to the school authority. My department received a tender report from the school authority which was subjected to the required due diligence as specified in the Public Infrastructure Guidelines in common with all such capital projects. The outcome of this review has been communicated to the school authority directly. The project will now progress to the appointment of a contractor for commencement of works on site.

For transparency, the status of all projects is regularly updated and can be found on a county-by-county basis at www.gov.ie. This information reflects the progress of projects through various stages, including capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender, and construction.

Since 2020, my department has invested in the region of €4.9 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 900 school building projects and with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects, which includes 30 new school buildings. These 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of over €1.2bn.

I also announced earlier in the year that close to 90 projects, including 28 new school buildings, would be authorised to proceed from tender stage to construction over the course of 2024 and early 2025. In total, around €800 million will be invested in these projects under the department’s Large Scale Capital Programme and Additional Accommodation Scheme for essential classroom accommodation.

Between projects currently under construction and projects moving to construction in this latest phase, investments by the Department of Education are adding over 550,000 square metres of new and modernised capacity to our school estate.

This is a record level of investment in school buildings. It will expand the number of school places, significantly increase provision for special education and upgrade and modernise our school infrastructure. The impact of this will be felt in communities right around the country.