Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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286. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if provision of a mainstream class in respect of a school in County Kerry (details supplied) can be expedited; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49843/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. The school was issued a provisional letter of offer following their application for capital funding and the application is currently in the assessment process.

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.

Each Department is now tasked to develop implementation plans based on their NDP Allocations. Our target will be to have this done and published in the Autumn. This will involve my Department’s Planning & Building Unit undertaking a review and analysis to determine the optimum outputs to be achieved from the €7.55bn allocation with a strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and in relation to project delivery ensuring a continued focus on affordability, value for money and functionality.

Some key points to note in relation to the NDP funding include 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.
• Its use will place 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 through the 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 rollout 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 rollout over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.