Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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362. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide for several areas (details supplied) a list of all the individual projects that have received funding from her Department since 2020, under the following headings: new schools, extended schools, enhanced minor works grant, minor works grant, new units in schools, and any other capital grants, in tabular form. [42922/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Since 2020, my department has invested over €5 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 950 school building projects and with construction currently underway at approximately 350 other projects, which includes 37 new school buildings. These 350 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of over €1.5bn.

The department announced earlier this 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 key drivers of capital investment in the schools’ sector include:

• demographic growth, particularly at post primary level

• increased demand for special educational needs provision

• alignment of school place provision with new housing development

• climate action objectives including deep energy retrofit.

Significant funding has been provided to schools through the Minor Works and Enhanced Minor Works grants. Since 2020, €280 million in Minor Works funding has issued to schools, which includes the Minor Works grant that issued in April 24 for the school year 2024/25.

Under the scheme, funding is made available to all primary and special schools, including the areas queried by the Deputy, on the following basis:

€5,500 basic grant plus €18.50 per mainstream pupil and €74 per special needs pupil enrolled in the school on the 30th of September of the year prior to the issue of the grant. The €74 rate applies to a special needs pupil attending a special school or attending a special class attached to a mainstream school.

The ICT Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 is underpinned by an investment of €200m to support its implementation, committed to under Ireland’s National Development Plan (NDP).

In 2020, €100m issued in ICT Grant funding, in two tranches of €50m, as funding of €50m for the 2020-2021 school year that was due to issue in early 2021 was brought forward to support schools with interventions needed during the pandemic. This represented the final funding issued of the €210m in grants that issued under the previous strategy, the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020.”

Funding of €50m secured as part of Ireland's National Recovery and Resilience Plan under the NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience Facility also issued to all recognised schools in the free education scheme to support learners at risk of educational disadvantage through the digital divide in late 2021.

From 2020 to September 2024, €251.94m has been provided to schools in ICT grants.

• In December 2021 the first tranche (€50m) of the €200 million NDP funding under the new Strategy issued to schools
• In late 2021 €50m secured as part of Ireland's National Recovery and Resilience Plan under the NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience Facility also issued to all recognised schools
• In April 2024 the second tranche of €50m issued to schools in April 2024.