Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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301. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline her Departments plans to provide adequate accommodation to a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49983/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm that my department is in receipt of an application for funding under the Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school in question.

The school was issued a provisional letter of offer following their application for capital funding and on the basis of the agreed brief the Department's project managers were appointed to carry out a viability report on the school building and a proposed neighbouring building. The viability report and a subsequent conservation report have been reviewed by the department's Technical staff with no technical issues reported. The viability of the proposed project is contingent on a lease agreement between the school and the neighbouring landowner.

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.

The application from the school in question will be considered in this context and the school authorities will be contacted with a decision as soon as possible.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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302. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the permanent extension for a school (details supplied), and timings for completion of the project, as it will be required to support September 2027 enrolment numbers. [49993/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The school referred to by the Deputy were approved a project under my Department Modular scheme which has delivered four mainstream classrooms and two science labs in modular units as Phase 1 of this school permanent extension. As part of this project there is also ongoing reconfiguration works inside the school to provide two special education classrooms.

As Phase 2 the school has been approved for a project under the Additional School Accommodation Scheme. The project will provide 7 Mainstream Classrooms 1 Music Room, 1 Design Computer Graphics Room, 1 Home Economics Room, 1 Graphics room, 2 Engineering/ Construction studies/Technology Rooms with prep areas, 2 Special education classrooms, 2 Special Education tuition rooms,1 Office, 1 Staff room and ancillary. The project was devolved to Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board (DDLETB) for delivery.

The department currently awaits the submission of a Stage 1 early design report for review from the appointed design team. It is now within the remit of DDLETB to progress this project accordingly.