Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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184. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when a new build for a school will proceed (details supplied). [55991/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The project referred to by the deputy has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects.

The project consists of the construction of a new school next to the existing Presentation De La Salle School to facilitate an increase in capacity to an LPTE of 750 pupils and 5 special education classrooms.

The project received full grant of planning permission and is currently at Stage 3 of the architectural planning design process - Tender stage.

When this stage is concluded, the project will progress to construction in due course. The length of time a project takes to go through each stage varies and depends on a number of factors, including scale and complexity.

The NDP Review process for the 2026 to 2030 period has recently concluded and involves an allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth (DEY).

All government departments are now tasked to develop implementation plans based on their NDP Allocations. The DEY target will be to have this done and published in the Autumn. This will involve the department’s Planning & Building Unit undertaking a review and analysis to determine the optimum outputs to be achieved from the €7.55 billion allocation with a strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and in relation to project delivery ensuring a continued focus on affordability, value for money and functionality.

In relation to project rollout for Large-Scale projects and Additional 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. This will be the context for assessing all project rollout for the 2026 to 2030 period including in relation to Presentation De La Salle, Bagenalstown.

The current status of all projects is listed on a county-by-county basis at www.gov.ie. and this is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.