Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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191. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills cad é an stádas reatha chun foirgneamh buan a thógáil do scoil (sonraí curtha ar fáil) i gContae Bhaile Átha Cliath; cad í an chúis leis an moill; agus an ndéanfaidh sí ráiteas ina thaobh. [53230/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The school to which the Deputy refers is part of a campus project and is devolved for delivery to CEIST.

The project is currently at Stage 2b (post planning process) of the architectural process which allows for detailed design and planning, obtaining the necessary statutory permissions and the preparation of tender documents. When this stage has been finalised and approved, the next stage is tendering for a contractor and then onwards to construction in due course.

CEIST, as the delivery body will continue to engage directly with the school community to keep it fully informed of progress.

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. Supplementary capital funding of €210 million approved by Government has brought the total capital allocation for 2025 for my department to €1.6 billion.

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.