Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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543. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the decision not to provide capital funding for the proposed amalgamation of schools (details supplied) given the extensive local consultation, the educational benefits of a co-educational Catholic secondary school, and the broader pattern of delays in school building projects nationwide. [61845/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm to the Deputy, that the amalgamation request for the post primary schools in question was reviewed at length in 2024, and while the potential amalgamation of the two post-primary schools in Claremorris would provide a very positive outcome, my department is unfortunately not in a position to commit to what would entail significant capital funding to support an amalgamation at this time. My department is required to prioritise available capital funding to meet school place needs, including for children and young people with special educational needs. In that context, the focus of the capital programme is the provision of required additional capacity.

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 roll-out 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 roll-out 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.