Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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176. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures being taken to reduce waiting times for school building projects in areas of rapid population growth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66476/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. The Department uses a Geographic Information System (GIS), which facilitates the analysis of data from a range of sources, including CSO Census data, Child Benefit and school enrolment data, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise and where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level. As part of the demographic demand analysis, the Department also factors in planning and construction activity in the residential sector gathered from a wide range of sources. The information is used to inform the roll out of both new school buildings and extensions to existing schools as required.

The Department’s school building programme is delivered through a range of procurement strategies which are tailored to the scale and complexity of projects and programmes ranging from large scale new and existing school projects to schemes and grants to upgrade and maintain existing buildings. This strategic procurement approach also allows the Department and individual school authorities flexibility to access a diversity of contractors and consultants and the approach has allowed the department to maintain its strong and consistent delivery. The Department is constantly renewing, updating and broadening the range of procurement frameworks to support the delivery of the school building programme.

Large scale projects are delivered through procurement routes such as Design and Build, ADAPT, and traditional employer led design including major devolved projects with our education partners. The Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme is focused on delivering additional capacity on existing school sites. Traditional ASA projects are devolved to schools for delivery. The Department also uses modern methods of construction as appropriate including Modular accommodation in order to expedite delivery. My department has also secured exemptions under the planning regulations in certain contexts to facilitate faster delivery of accommodation to meet near-term requirements. Exemptions relate to smaller projects on existing school sites and certain temporary accommodation on school sites for which planning permission has been obtained for the permanent school.

The Department has integrated delivery teams which include both professional and technical, and administrative/project management staff. These teams support and oversee the delivery of projects based on compliance with departmental technical guidance documents from project brief stage through the various stages of architectural design and planning and ultimately to tender, construction and completion.

Project timeframes vary considerably due to the many variables which impact on a project from inception and through these five stages of architectural design and construction. For example, acquiring a suitable site for delivery of a school can take some time, as can the process to acquire the necessary statutory approvals.

In line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines, projects are subject to relevant due diligence by my department at each stage in the process, within the context of overall programme and budgetary parameters. Each project approval represents approval to proceed to the next stage, and not approval for the overall project. It is also important to note that all individual projects form part of a larger programme. The Department must manage the wider programme within the context of available resources, including funding parameters, and this can impact on individual project timeframes.

Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan (NDP), involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects.

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 (NDP). 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