James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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640. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will consider correspondence (details supplied) regarding funding for a school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57830/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved for delivery to Le Cheile Trust.

This project is currently at Stage 2a of the architectural design process -the developed design stage which involves the Design Team developing the design, fully cost planning the project and preparing the necessary documentation to facilitate the lodging for statutory approvals to Cork County Council.

Le Cheile Trust will continue to engage directly with the school authority to keep it informed of progress.

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.

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.