Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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115. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills whether she has plans to facilitate the expansion of a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30747/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to confirm my Department has no current plans for upgrades or building works from the school, referred to by the Deputy. It is open to the school authority to make an application for capital funding and application forms are available at .

I wish to advise the deputy that all applications from schools for major capital works must be considered in the context of capacity requirements and climate action commitments. The priority of my Department continues to be the provision of required additional school places to meet demographic requirements as well as for children with special educational needs.

My Department is required to manage the allocated capital funding across all schools in the country. The Department’s approach is to maximise the usage of existing capacity in schools and, in tandem with this, to manage the progression of the existing pipeline of projects within available budgets and in line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines.

The Department can identify opportunities to transform existing schools as part of energy retrofit projects, and the Department’s Pathfinder programme has been developing effective solutions in this regard, as we plan for a future wider rollout. The plan for working this through at national scale will be informed by the outcome of an Energy and Condition survey of all schools which is currently underway. It has already been completed across schools in five counties and the remaining counties are due for completion by mid-2026. The subsequent analysis of this significant amount of data will take some time but will help determine priorities going forward in relation to retrofit and refurbishment projects. The process may ultimately identify a requirement for the replacement of some accommodation, but this is not expected to be widespread. This overall process is particularly valuable in facilitating a proportionate assessment of a school’s accommodation upgrade needs relative to all other schools and allow an effective prioritisation of capital investment.

This allows the Department to keep a strong focus on the provision of additional capacity to cater for demographics, new housing developments and the rollout of additional special classes for children with additional needs. This approach reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.

The pace of delivery of additional residential development in school planning areas, along with updated enrolment data and demographic data will be kept under review and this will inform the timing of school requirements. The Department will continue to liaise with the Local Authorities in respect to the projected completion of planned residential developments.

The Department is currently examining demographic requirements across the country, including in the context of current and planned residential development activity. Any application from the school referred to by the deputy for capital funding will be considered in this context.