David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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197. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the application by a school (details supplied) can be expedited for a much-needed extension to the school in order to accommodate the growing school population. [38748/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to confirm to the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an application from the school in question under the Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme for mainstream accommodation.

The purpose of my Department’s 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.

The main focus of my Department’s resources over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of critical additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics.

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.

The Department is required to manage the overall school building programme so that we target and prioritise areas that are under greatest pressure for additional school places. This reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.

As the Deputy is aware the purchase of additional lands has been recently being finalised and the application for the school in question is being considered in this context. Official in my Department are in contact with the school authority and I can assure the Deputy that we are working to get a decision communicated to the school as soon as possible.