Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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103. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress to date in providing a new school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39777/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will appreciate that all applications from schools for major capital works must be considered in the context of overall priorities, capital funding, capacity requirements and climate action commitments. 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.

Opportunities will arise in due course 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 roll-out. 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. 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 roll-out 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 Minister recently announced a new multi-annual Summer Works Scheme with a focus on climate action and energy conservation. This is an important programme for facilitating smaller scale upgrades to existing schools on a devolved basis.

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 1,400 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 to support the provision of special education accommodation and meet school place needs. This brings the total capital allocation for 2025 for my department to €1.6 billion.

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. Maximising existing capacity in schools to meet needs is very important. The progression of prioritised individual projects to meet the most urgent needs in the 2026 to 2030 period that cannot be met through existing capacity across schools in the local area will be considered on a rolling basis from Autumn onwards after the NDP allocations are finalised.

I can confirm to the Deputy that my department received a request in 2023 from the patron of the two schools referred to by the Deputy in relation to their amalgamation. This request was approved by the Department in November, 2023 subject to the schools continuing to operate on their existing sites. It has now been proposed that a new school will be built on a greenfield site which would consolidate the proposed amalgamated schools on one site. This request has not been approved on the basis that it is not in line with the conditions of approval for the amalgamation.