Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

155. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide a list of school building projects in County Kildare for the years 2022 to 2025, including the status and expected completion dates, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55795/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

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 1,300 school building projects. In addition, over 200 SEN Repurposing projects delivered maximising the use of existing accommodation while creating opportunities for inclusion and integration.

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 Kildare, my department has invested over €382m since 2020, of which circa €373m was invested in school building projects. This investment has supported the completion of 64 school building projects including 9 new school buildings. Currently 22 projects are in construction, of which 2 are New School Buildings. In addition, 21 further projects are at an advanced stage of delivery, of which 7 are New School Buildings.

The current status of all projects is set out under item number ten at the following link (www.gov.ie). This is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.