Written answers
Thursday, 12 June 2025
Department of Education and Skills
Schools Building Projects
Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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102. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the Clonturk-Swords Road educational campus and capital programmes on site; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31112/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The major building project referred to by the Deputy will deliver a shared educational campus which will provide 2 new 1,000 pupil post primary schools with 6 classrooms for children with special education needs, a new 8 classroom primary school with accommodation and 2 classrooms for children with special education needs and a new 20 classroom special school at the Swords Road campus in Whitehall.
The project will be delivered under my Department's ADAPT 4 Programme – Programme Innovate. This programme will be led by Integrated Project Teams consisting of highly skilled and experienced design professionals, architects, engineers, project managers, quantity surveyors and various other consultants to deliver the projects.
AECOM as the Programme Manager are overseeing the procurement and appointment of these Integrated Project Teams and the procurement process for the team for this project at the Whitehall campus is currently being concluded.
Upon appointment, the Integrated Project Team will begin the initial stage of architectural planning – Stage 1, where a site and current building assessment is carried out, and initial design sketch schemes are created.
As part of the NDP Review process, all departments, including my department, are currently engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform with respect to NDP allocations for the period 2026-2030. It is expected that there will be clarity on these allocations over the course of the summer period, and this will allow my department to plan its capital investment programme for the 2026 to 2030 period in line with prioritised needs and reflecting, as appropriate, wider Government priorities.
This project will be progressed in the context of this overall NDP capital planning and in line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines.
Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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103. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the new premises for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30441/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan (NDP), involving the completion of over 1,375 school building projects. Government support for this investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, has delivered real benefits for school communities. A recent Government decision has approved €210m supplementary capital funding for my department which brings the total capital allocation for 2025 for my department to €1.6bn.
The school referred to by the Deputy is currently based in temporary accommodation. It is intended that the school will relocate to a former primary school building that is due to be vacated by a special school following completion of its new school building later in 2025.
The vacated school building will need to be upgraded and a technical assessment of the scope of the required upgrade works is currently underway. The Department is in ongoing engagement with the patron in relation to the school's relocation to the vacated building and will keep the patron updated on this technical assessment.
As part of the NDP Review process, all departments, including my department, are currently engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform with respect to NDP allocations for the period 2026-2030. It is expected that there will be clarity on these allocations over the course of the summer period, and this will allow my department to plan its capital investment programme for the 2026 to 2030 period in line with prioritised needs and reflecting, as appropriate, wider Government priorities. The progression of the project referred to by the Deputy along with other prioritised individual projects to meet the most urgent needs in the 2026 to 2030 period will be considered on a rolling basis from Autumn onwards after the NDP allocations are finalised.
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