Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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536. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she has read the correspondence sent to her by an organisation (details supplied); the urgent actions she will take to ensure a safe environment for students, teachers and staff at the school while they await the long delayed new school campus. [61769/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The project referred to by the Deputy has been devolved to Donegal Education and Training Board (DLETB).

The brief for this project is to provide a three-school campus consisting of an eight-mainstream classroom and two special education classrooms for Gaelscoil Bhun Crannach, and, two post primary schools (Crana College and Coláiste Eoghain) to accommodate a long-term projected enrolment of 800 pupils and also provide a 4 classroom SEN base for each school.

The project is currently at Stage 2b of the architectural process which allows for detailed design and planning, obtaining the necessary statutory permissions and the preparation of tender documents.

DLETB will continue to engage directly with the school authorities to keep them fully informed of progress on this important project.

The school should liaise with the ETB regarding the prefabs and consider submitting an application through the Additional Needs Assessment (ANA) team for their replacement. Any health and safety issues concerning facilities that fall outside the scope of the school building project should be addressed through an application under the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS).

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.

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.