Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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428. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will engage with a request to review the Phase 2 scope of works by a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15711/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The school to which the Deputy refers was granted funding under my Department's 2022 Additional Schools (ASA) Scheme to provide 1 Mainstream classroom, 1 SET room, 1 Graphics room, 1 Technology room and prep area and 1 project store. The school were also requested to master plan for 1 PE hall for consideration in the future.

I can confirm that my Department received a request from the school authority for additional scope to include a PE Hall and reconfiguration works. An assessment was carried out and it is my department’s view that the school required an additional two classrooms to cater for its current cohort which could be added to the existing ASA accommodation that will be delivered, and this was conveyed to the school in September 2024.

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 by available accommodation at other schools in the area. A request for a PE Hall does not come within the remit of the ASA scheme.

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.

A future strengthened focus on refurbishment of existing school stock will have different strands and will include a PE build and modernisation programme which will enable students in post-primary schools to have access to appropriate facilities to support PE provision, particularly also in the context of the roll-out of PE as a leaving-certificate subject. Enhanced and modernised PE facilities will also provide important amenities for local communities.

However, the main focus of the Department’s capital funding over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of critical additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics and children with special education needs.

The Department is required to manage the overall school building programme so that we target and prioritise areas that are under greatest pressure for additional school places. This reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.

The overall position with regard to potential modernisation and replacement of existing school infrastructure will be kept under review as capital funding allocations for future years are clarified.