Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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242. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the status of an application by a school (details supplied) for additional accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67540/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The school to which the Deputy refers was approved to enter my Department's pipeline for a project under the Additional School Accommodation scheme. The project will provide six general classrooms (three prefab replacement), one Technology room with preparation room, one Science laboratory with preparation area, one Home Economics room, one project store and a four class SEN base.

The Stage 2a Report for the project was received by my department in July 2025 and is currently being reviewed from both a technical and cost perspective in accordance with the requirements of the Public Spending Code. All projects, including this one, will undergo the necessary due diligence outlined in the public Infrastructure Guidelines. Managing timing, scope, and cost is crucial to staying within budgetary limits for the overall program.

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 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.

My department is now preparing an NDP implementation plan which is due for publication later in the year. This 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.

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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243. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of an application by a school (details supplied) for additional accommodation; the status of temporary accommodation for the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67541/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm to the Deputy, that the school in question has submitted an application for capital funding, under my department's Additional School Accommodation Scheme (ASA).

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 shortly. 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.

I can confirm to the Deputy that the school's patron, Tipperary Education and Training Board (TETB), agreed a brief in September this year for modular accommodation comprising 3 Mainstream classrooms and ancillary accommodation, and repurposing of existing accommodation to provide 2 Special Education Tuition rooms. It subsequently became apparent that the brief of accommodation could not be delivered on the school site. This was communicated to the patron body in mid-November and on-going contact has been maintained since on next steps. Due to the restricted nature of the school site temporary accommodation is not recommended and this has been communicated to the patron.

The progression of this project will ultimately be considered in the context of the NDP Implementation plan as set out above.

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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244. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of an application for additional accommodation by a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67542/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter my Department’s pipeline of school buildings for a project to provide four Mainstream Classrooms, two SET Rooms and a two classroom SEN Base under the Additional School Accommodation Scheme.

Responsibility for delivery has been devolved to the school authority, which has appointed a design team to manage the project. My Department’s professional and technical team has reviewed the project following the submission of a revised floor plan and additional clarification provided by the design team after a preplanning meeting with Tipperary County Council.

As part of this process, a resubmission of the Stage 1 report was requested prior to progression to the next phase. The Department received the revised Stage 1 report in Q2 2025 which is currently under review. All projects, including this one, will undergo the necessary due diligence outlined in the public Infrastructure Guidelines. Managing timing, scope, and cost is crucial to staying within budgetary limits for the overall program.

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 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.

My department is now preparing an NDP implementation plan which is due for publication later in the year. This 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.