Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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35. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on extensions to schools in Kerry. [8645/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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.

In April 2024 the department 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 is being 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

Since 2020, the total capital invested in Co. Kerry schools is over €122m.

From 2020 to date, 42 school building projects (Large Scale/ASA/Modular) have been completed in Co. Kerry of which 17 were extensions/refurbishments.

Currently there are 14 school building projects (Large Scale/ASA/Modular) under construction in Co. Kerry of which 8 are delivering extensions.

These projects are being delivered to ambitious timeframes, and the position on individual projects evolves all the time as they advance through various stages. The status of all projects is set out at . This is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.