Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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230. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the new build for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56140/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The major building project referred to by the Deputy will deliver a new 1,000 pupil post primary school with 6 classrooms for children with special education needs.

The school will be delivered as part of a shared educational campus which will provide 2 new 1,000 pupil post primary schools with 6 classrooms for children with special education needs, a new 8 classroom primary school with accommodation and 2 classrooms for children with special education needs and a new 20 classroom special school at the Swords Road campus in Whitehall. The project will be delivered under my Department's ADAPT 4 programme – Programme Innovate. This programme is being led by Integrated Project Teams consisting of highly skilled and experienced design professionals, architects, engineers, project managers, quantity surveyors and various other consultants to deliver the projects.

This project is currently at the initial stage of architectural planning – Pre-Stage 1 where the Integrated Project Team carry out a site and current building assessment and initial design sketch schemes are created.

It will not be possible to estimate the date of commencement of works until the project has secured all essential statutory approvals.

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 year. 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.

My Department will continue to keep the school and its patron body updated on progress and next steps.