Written answers
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Department of Education and Skills
Schools Building Projects
Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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160. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when phase 2 of the building works at a school (details supplied) is scheduled to commence; if she will provide an update on the timeline for its completion; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17211/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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 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 €1.5 billion.??
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 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 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.
As the Deputy is aware, my department provided a new school building on a greenfield site for the school referred to. This provides 4 mainstream classrooms, 1 Special Education Needs class and ancillary accommodation. The school currently has a staffing of 2 mainstream class teachers and 1 Special Education Needs class so there is a significant accommodation capacity available to the school at present.
It is important to note that projects are managed and advanced within the context of an overall building programme which involves 1,400 projects at various stages of the architectural process and within budgetary parameters. The priority in my department is to ensure 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. In this context, my department will continue to monitor the development of enrolments at this school in relation to the requirement for further accommodation.
James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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161. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on a school building project (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17185/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved for delivery to Cork Education and Training Board (CETB).
A Stage 2a meeting took place in March 2025. Additional information was requested from the Design Team to address queries raised. Once this information is received, reviewed, and approved by my Department, the project will progress to Stage 2b which allows for detailed design/planning, obtaining the necessary statutory permissions and the preparation of tender documents.
The project will then move onward to tender and construction in due course.
While at this early stage, it is not possible to provide a timeline for the completion of the project, CETB will continue to engage directly with the school authority to keep them informed of all progress.
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