Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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1030. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to examine the case of a school (details supplied) requiring property expansion; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20757/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm to the Deputy, that the school in question has submitted an application for capital funding, under my department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme for additional accommodation.

The purpose of my department’s Additional School Accommodation (or ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom accommodation and accommodation for pupils with special education needs is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or at other schools in the area.

At primary level, this situation generally arises to cater for a school’s accommodation requirements where an additional teaching post has been sanctioned by Teacher Allocation Section, or the requirement for a new class for pupils with special education needs has been identified by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes. The capacity at other schools in the area is also considered as part of the assessment of any accommodation needs.

In order to plan for school place needs, my 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 my department's projections of school place requirements.

While my 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 the following factors:

• Duplication of applications
• School of choice
• Single-sex schools
• External draw

The school referred to is located in the Ballyhale school planning area. My department's projections of primary school place requirements in the Ballyhale SPA indicate that enrolments at primary level peaked in 2020 and are steadily decreasing year on year.

I wish to confirm that this school has recently accepted a viability report to provide modular accommodation of one mainstream classroom and two special education tuition rooms. Within the last two years also this school received funding for reconfiguration to provide two special education classrooms within their current building.

I wish to advise the Deputy that the purchase of land and parking facilities does not fall under the remit of my department’s ASA Scheme. The main focus of my department’s resources over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of critical additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics. My 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 our fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.