Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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878. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department will commit to a full audit of the current building housing a school (details supplied), with a view to securing significant refurbishment funding or facilitating a move to a new fit-for-purpose building, given ongoing safety concerns raised by the school's management. [59837/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The main focus of the Department’s resources over the last decade and for the coming period is on the provision of critical additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics. With an emphasis on maximising the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and providing 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.

The purpose of my department’s Additional School Accommodation (or ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom accommodation and accommodation for pupils with special education needs is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation. It is open to the school authority to submit an Additional accommodation application; further information can be found on the Departments website: . If my colleagues in the ASA section determine that a site visit/ audit of the building is required, following an application, a member of the department’s technical team will be appointed.

The Minor Works Grant for primary schools may be used to improve the physical infrastructure and appearance of schools without needing to deal directly with the Department. Schools can utilise their grant to undertake projects which they believe are a priority for their own particular school.

The Multi-Annual Climate action Summer Works Scheme (SWS), which is demand based, is designed to allow schools, on a devolved funding basis, to carry out necessary improvement works that will upgrade existing school facilities, which can be carried out during the summer months or at other times that avoid disrupting the operation of the school. The Summer Works Scheme operates on a multi-annual basis. Further information on the summerworks scheme can be found at the link below

My department administers an Emergency Works Grant, and its purpose is solely for unforeseen emergencies or to provide funding to facilitate inclusion and access for special needs pupils. An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action and in the case of a school if not corrected would prevent the school or part thereof from opening. Additional information can be located on the Department's website: