Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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436. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if all the construction-related reports required to progress a school building project (details supplied) advised by her Department in July 2024 to proceed with a new planning application, which should include decarbonisation, have been completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57349/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The school to which the Deputy refers is at Stage 2b Advanced Architectural Planning. The brief is a new 32 classroom school with 2 SEN classrooms, GP hall and all external ancillary accommodation and external works.

A tender report was received from the Design Team in 2023 and was reviewed by my Department, during the course of this review it was noted that the Planning Permission was due to expire in December 2023 and a new planning permission application would be required.

Given the passage of time since tenders were returned and the requirement for a new planning application, the Design Team were authorised in July 2024 to collapse the former tender procedure and proceed with the new planning application. This planning application will include decarbonisation measures in accordance with Technical Design Guidance. The Design Team have liaised with Fingal County Council and are preparing the planning application accordingly.

The updated tender documents will include the updated Mechanical and Electrical requirements in accordance with decarbonisation measures, and compliance with any statutory requirements.

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 have been 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.