James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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226. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will outline the applications for the additional accommodation scheme for both primary and post-primary schools in Cork county; the monetary value of each project; the stage each project is currently at and the timeline before completion; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53710/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm to the Deputy that there are 36 applications from Cork schools for my department's Additional Schools' Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or by available accommodation at other schools in the area. Of the 36 ASA applications, 30 relate to applications from primary schools and special schools for mainstream and special education accommodation and 6 are from post primary schools. The 36 applications are at the assessment stage.

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.

In light of the above and the complexities involved in each individual school's situation it is not possible to indicate how long it will take for projects to reach the next stage nor the costs involved. Factors such as the mode of delivery, project size and complexity will affect cost and progression to the next stage.

As the deputy will be aware a full list of all projects for Cork is available online for those projects in train, including their current stages. This is available at: assets.gov.ie/static/documents/ASA_ongoing_projects_July_2025.pdf