John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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637. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the new school project for a school (detail supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57827/25]

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 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.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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638. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the completion of contracted works and planned works at a school (details supplied). [57828/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The school to which the Deputy refers is currently at Stage 2b - Advanced Architectural Planning. The project is a completion project, which includes a Sports Hall that was to be completed as part of the original phased project.

The Design Team have prepared a pre-tender estimate which is under review within my Department.

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, repurposing and optimisation of existing accommodation capacity across the school estate has been a key enabler of timely, local provision of special class capacity in a way that supports best practice in inclusion and integration. Circa 80% of new special classes in 2025/26 are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation.

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. It is planned that circa 80 school building projects will progress to construction across 2026 and 2027 as part of a 2-year rolling programme.

All Government departments are expected to publish their sectoral NDP Implementation Plans in November. My department’s 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.