Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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91. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth regarding the application for a block extension grant by a school (details supplied), if she will confirm receipt of my letter seeking a review; if such a review will be facilitated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31960/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme was launched last year and closed for applications in January. There were four strands to the scheme: Community Construction, Community Extension, Community Purchasing and Private Extension.

A total of 78 applications were received. The applications came from a variety of locations across the country. All applications received were appraised carefully against the objectives and criteria of the programme in a fair and impartial process. I have now approved 49 of these applications to progress to the next stage of the grant process.

The legal advice received by my Department was that services applying under the Community Construction strand should be required to own the land on which they wished to construct the new premises. This is intended to secure the State's interest over the long term in a capital asset delivered through public investment. This requirement was made clear in the application documentation provided to services.

Based on the information provided to my Department, the early learning and childcare service that the Deputy refers to does not own the land on which they were proposing to build the new premises. Regrettably therefore this project falls outside the parameters of the scheme and as such, their application was deemed ineligible.

Following the decision to deem the application ineligible, my Department has received a number of communications from the board of the service. Officials in my Department have responded confirming the original decision that the application was ineligible and outlining the importance of the legal requirement to own the land on which the proposed premises is to be constructed.

My Department is currently considering the design of future capital investment programmes, including how best to protect the State's interest in publicly-funded capital assets. As and when details of any future schemes are determined, I will of course communicate with the sector.