Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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1071. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the planning permission submissions for two post primary schools in Cherrywood; the status of each application including a timeline for their progression; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41673/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The current school building project, earmarked for the Cherrywood site, when complete will provide a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school building and accommodation, including 6 classrooms, for children with special educational needs.

This project which has planning permission, has been assigned to the Departments Design & Build delivery programme which uses a professional external Project Manager to progress the project through the relevant stages of architectural planning, tender and construction.

Cherrywood SDZ is a new developing community with a Planning Scheme which was drafted by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. The scheme was approved in April 2014.

Within the scheme, school sites were identified and reserved for future development. Overall, there are four sites reserved for primary schools and there are two sites reserved for post primary schools.

The pace of delivery of additional residential development, along with updated enrolment data and demographic data will be kept under review and this will inform the timing of the school requirement.

My Department will continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project roll out over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.

Further details on the Department of Education and Youth’s capital programme will be published in Autumn 2025.