Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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267. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the detailed delivery plan, including timelines and key milestones, for the full modular build comprising of 14 classrooms and associated facilities to address the accommodation crisis at a school (details supplied); the expected date for the completion of the design and planning stage; and the projected date for delivery and occupation of the new accommodation. [67732/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm that in March 2025 my department agreed an accommodation brief with the school in question to provide 14 special education classrooms and ancillary accommodation.

Furthermore an official from my department met with representatives of the school and discussed the current building, the site and the programme for a new build as well as the department's intention to run a mini-competition utilising the Sustainable Timber Modular Framework. A tender process subsequently commenced for this mini-competition.

I can assure the Deputy that enabling children with special educational needs to receive a befitting education is a priority for this government. It is also a key priority for my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

My department works closely with the National Council of Special Education (NCSE) on the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places.

The NCSE has sanctioned 407 new special classes for the 2025/26 school year. Of these 16 are in County Tipperary, 8 at primary and 8 at post-primary level. This brings to 154 the number of special classes currently in operation in the county. There are also 3 special schools in Tipperary with approximately 409 students enrolled. One of the five new special schools for the 2025/26 school year has opened in Nenagh also.

The NCSE continues to review the SEN provision requirements in South Tipperary and the wider area in relation to the delivery of special school places.

In relation to the project in question, it is intended that it will be delivered as a design build by Lidan Construction with Healys Architects as the lead designers of a full integrated design team. Lidan were selected on the basis of a competition run under the Sustainable Timber Modular Framework.

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that officials from my department recently met with and are working closely with the school and the selected design team to finalise the procurement of the contractor and confirm site constraints including site access and utilities, which will then allow the school to appoint the contractor and commence the design process. Pursuant to the successful contractor appointment, it is expected that designs will be ready for Local Authority review in early 2026. Subsequent to a successful planning application, works will commence with site works and off site works running concurrently. It is anticipated that the building will be delivered in early 2027.

Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)
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268. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the current status of a new school building project for a post-primary school in Naas (details supplied), first promised by Minister Jan O'Sullivan in November 2015. [67733/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The project to which the deputy refers has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects. The brief for this project is provide a new build post primary school to accommodate a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils including a 6 class SEN base.

The project is currently at Stage 3 of the architectural design process – Tender Stage. The length of time a project takes to go through each stage varies and depends on a number of factors, including scale and complexity. The NDFA will be engaging directly with the school authority to keep it informed of progress.

My Department is committed to ensuring appropriate school accommodation is available for all children in St Marys College and will in the wider context outlined, ensure that this project - as for all projects on the school building programme - is subject to the due diligence required under the public Infrastructure Guidelines.

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. 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. This will be the context for assessing all project rollout for the 2026 to 2030 period.

The current status of all projects is listed on a county-by-county basis at www.gov.ie. under item number 10 and this is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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269. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position on an extension for a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67747/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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This school has been approved for a project under the Additional Accommodation Scheme (ASA) to provide three mainstream classrooms, a two-class SEN base, and repurposing works of existing accommodation to provide two mainstream classrooms. Delivery of this project has been devolved to the school authority

My Department approved this ASA project to progress to Stage 2b (planning) in November 2024 and my department now awaits a post planning (developed design) report from the school for review.

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 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.

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.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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270. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position on additional accommodation for a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67748/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm to the Deputy, that my department recently received an application for funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school in question.

The purpose of the ASA Scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or by available accommodation at other schools in the area.

The school in question is located in the Prosperous-Clane school planning area. The department's projections of primary school place requirements in the Prosperous-Clane SPA indicate that enrolments at primary level peaked in 2019 and are decreasing year on year.

Given the general downward direction of overall enrolments in the area the department's focus for the assessment of such additional accommodation applications will be as follows:

• Analyse the extent to which enrolments at this school and neighbouring schools are serving the local area in the first instance. This will identify if some of the pressures on local capacity are arising from the enrolment of pupils from outside the local area where there may be other school provision opportunities available to them.
• In assessing accommodation capacity at this school and neighbouring schools, an assessment will need to be made on how best to utilise existing capacity in the context of both mainstream and SEN requirements in the local area.