Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

92. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will grant the application for immediate emergency, temporary accommodation to address the current overcrowded conditions in a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3753/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department has approved capital funding, under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, for the school in question for a traditional building project consisting of 3 Mainstream general classrooms, 1 Music room,1 Science lab & prep area, 1 Graphics room,1 Home economics room, 1 Construction room & prep area, 1 Special education classroom & 1 Universal access toilet. This project has been devolved to the school authorities for delivery and is currently at stage 2b - Detailed design.

The school authorities then submitted another application for the ASA scheme in February 2024, for modular accommodation for mainstream classrooms and toilets. The school wished to apply for this as an interim accommodation solution while progressing with the traditional build project.

As part of the assessment process for this application my Department’s Strategic Capacity Planning Division were consulted on the demographic projections for the Grange School Planning Area. Enrolments in the School Planning Area in question peaked in 2020 and were expected to decline further. It was found that the Grange School Planning area was not an area under pressure for school places.

The school authority was contacted in July 2024 and advised that the modular accommodation requested would be considered a permanent solution and would replace some of the accommodation offered within the existing traditional project. This was not deemed acceptable by the school authorities, who stated that the site is too restricted to take both modular and traditional build projects and so the application was refused.

The patron then submitted an appeal of this decision in August 2024. I can confirm to the Deputy that this appeal was considered by my officials and has now been completed. My officials have contacted the school authorities to advise that the refusal of the application for temporary accommodation has been upheld.

The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or at other schools in the area.

I am pleased to confirm that since 2020, my Department has invested over €5.7 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 1,150 school building projects and with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects, which includes new school buildings some of which are being delivered in phases. These 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of over €1.3bn.

The Department previously announced 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.