Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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260. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plan to address the shortage of school places, particularly at primary level in rapidly growing urban areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14914/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs is an absolute priority for the Department of Education.

In order to plan for school place needs, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. Additionally, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform the Department's projections of school place requirements.

Since 2020, my department has invested over €5.8 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. Between projects currently under construction and projects moving to construction in the coming months, investments by the Department of Education are adding over 600,000 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 Programme for Government recognises the importance of strong capital investment in the school building programme and supporting this with enhanced allocations through the NDP process.

Nationally at primary level, there is generally good capacity across the country, although there are some areas under continuing demographic pressures. While the Department is aware of enrolment pressures and demand for additional school places in some areas, it is important to note that where enrolment pressures arise, it may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may be driven by duplication of applications, school of choice and external draw issues.

Where demographic data indicates that additional provision is required, the delivery of such additional capacity is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, be provided through:

• Utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools
• Extending the capacity of a school or schools
• Provision of a new school or schools