Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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1233. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the level of additional investment in special education arising from the national development plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43643/25]

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, 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. The Government has now concluded the review of the National Development Plan which sets out the capital allocations for each Government Department for the 2026 to 2030 period.?

The NDP outcome involves an allocation of €7.55bn for the Department of Education & Youth for the 2026 to 2030 period.

I intend to prioritise investment in special education and school places as part of €7.55 Billion in funding for 2026-2030.

It is envisaged that the NDP funding will involve the following:

It will facilitate the completion of circa 300 school building projects currently in construction to deliver over 22,300 school places in new and modernised accommodation across primary, post-primary and special schools. Most of these projects are expected to be completed over the course of 2026 and 2027. ?

Have a strong emphasis on supporting children with special educational needs in relation to the annual requirements for special classes and places in special schools through continuing to maximise and re-purpose existing capacity as much as possible and provision of modular accommodation where determined necessary by the Department. It is envisaged that this will involve the provision of circa. 14,000 school places in special classes and special schools over the course of the 2026 to 2030 period to meet necessary annual requirements.

• In relation to project roll out for Large-Scale projects and Additional Accommodation Scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance 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.