Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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144. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the application from a school to replace their 50-year-old prefabs (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64214/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy, that my department is in receipt of an application for capital funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. The application seeks the replacement of some prefabricated accommodation at the school.

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. 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 education needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project rollout for large-scale projects and ASA scheme projects, the approach will be to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate so 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 application from the school in question will be considered in this context and the school authorities will be contacted directly with a decision in due course.