Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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455. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps she has taken to deliver on the commitment in the Programme for Government to establish a new national small schools project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38808/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government provides for a number of measures to support small schools, including introducing a new national small schools' project and trialling new administrative supports. The Government is very aware that small schools are an important part of the life of local communities.

The current small schools' action research project established in 2021 in due to conclude at the end of the next school year. The project has brought small schools together in local clusters, enabling them to collaborate, identify common challenges and trial innovative solutions.

It includes six clusters of small schools, two in Galway and one each in Donegal, Kerry, Wicklow and Waterford, consisting of between three and five schools per cluster. The feedback from schools has been extremely positive and this is reflected in the interim evaluation report recently published by my department.

The independent review recently published by my department identifies potential areas for closer collaboration and an analysis of the scalability of actions already undertaken. As the project progresses a further evaluation will take place. Learnings from the evaluation of the current project will be invaluable and form a strong basis to inform the future policy direction in relation to small schools, including the development in my department of future proposals to deliver on the Programme for Government Commitment.