Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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71. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the expansion of a school (details supplied). [52331/25]

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 purpose of the ASA Scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or by available accommodation at other schools in the area.

In general, demographics have been falling at primary level and are due to continue to decrease. Therefore, my department considers it prudent to maximise the use of existing spare accommodation capacity at primary level in the first instance, before considering any applications for further accommodation needs. This is in line with public spending requirements.

I can advise the Deputy that a site visit to the school was undertaken, and the resulting technical report confirmed that the school site is at maximum capacity. Any provision of additional accommodation to the school in question will necessitate the consideration of purchase of additional land adjacent to the school.

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.