James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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153. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status for funding for outdoor playing facilities at a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8517/25]

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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154. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of funding for playing facilities at a school (details supplied); her Department’s plans for further funding for playing facilities at the same school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8518/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 153 and 154 together.

The campus on which the school referred to by the Deputy is located, was completed in Q4 2023 and delivered a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school and two 24 classroom primary schools and accommodation, including 14 classrooms across the three projects, for children with special education needs. The campus project also delivered 3 GP areas, a PE Hall in the post-primary school and 13 ballcourts in total.

The lands to the south of the site have been designated as a flood retention area as required under the campus flood mitigation design. The area will be subject to ponding of water and potential flooding given that the these lands are designed to retain overflow flood waters during periods of heavy rainfall. A planning application was submitted to the local authority by the contractor to provide the access road and entrance to this area. A Notification of Decision to Grant Planning Permission was received from Cork County Council on 20th February 2025. Once these works are complete, the area will be made available and will be managed by the post-primary school referred to by the deputy in terms of shared access for all three schools on the campus as a green area.

As the Deputy may be aware, funding is already provided for the development of playgrounds/playing facilities in existing schools sites by my Department under the guise of the Summer Works Scheme (SWS). The purpose of the SWS is to enable individual school authorities to undertake small-scale building works on a devolved basis and, ideally, can be carried out during the summer months or at other times that avoid disrupting the operation of the school. The SWS operates on a multi-annual basis for a number of categories which could include the provision or upgrade of play areas.

My Department is leading an ambitious sustainability agenda and has progressed a wide array of measures to improve the overall sustainability of our school buildings. It is a priority for Government to deliver on Ireland’s ambitious climate agenda and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes targets around the decarbonisation of Ireland’s public buildings.

As part of it’s planning for 2025 and beyond, Department officials are considering and planning for the next phases of the summer works programme and the opportunities this may create to support the sustainability agenda. In this regard, it is envisaged at this stage that, a Multi-Annual SWS with a focus on climate action and energy conservation will be the focus for the next summer works scheme to be opened for applications. The arrangements and timing of that SWS is still under consideration and schools will be updated in due course.