Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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865. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 1071 of 29 July 2025, the position regarding a timeline for the completion of a school (details supplied); if she is concerned of the impact on families if this project is not urgently progressed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45925/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The school building project referred to by the deputy will provide a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school building and accommodation, including classrooms for children with special educational needs.

This project has been assigned to my 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.

The Cherrywood SDZ is a new developing community. The school sites designated within the masterplan have been strategically allocated to serve this new community. My Department is satisfied that existing demand can be accommodated at present by the existing and growing schools in the school planning area.

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

In July the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan. As part of this NDP allocation my department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs.

In relation to project rollout for Large-Scale projects and Additional School 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 rollout over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.

My department is now preparing an NDP implementation plan which is due for publication later in the Autumn. This plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money, and meets functional needs.