Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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194. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will detail her Department’s capital budget in each of the past five years; and the percentage of that budget spent at 31 December in each of those years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6830/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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NDP allocations and outturns (including supplementary funding) for the years 2020 to 2024.

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.

Since 2020, my Department has issued €280 million to schools under the Minor Works Grant, while a further €200m has issued to support schools under the ICT grants.

A further €350m has been in small scale works under the Summer Works and Emergency Works Schemes to facilitate repairs and improvement of schools

In partnership with SEAI since 2017 €160 million invested in the Pathfinder Programme

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

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.