Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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43. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding projects (details supplied). [6901/26]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The present position regarding the three projects referred to by the Deputy is as follows.

Both St Joseph’s Secondary School Rochfortbridge and Castlepollard Community College have been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects (Project Dargle bundle).

The brief for St Joseph’s Secondary School is to provide an extension and refurbishment to the existing school building to accommodate a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils and also provide a 4 classroom Special Education Needs base for the school.

The brief for Castlepollard Community College consists of the extension and refurbishment of the existing building to increase its capacity to 350 students.

Both projects are currently at Stage 2b of the architectural design process (pre-tender stage). A full grant of planning permission was received for both projects in 2024.

The NDFA will continue to engage directly with the respective school authorities to keep them fully informed of the outcome of these discussions.

The major building project for Marist College will be delivered via the Departments ADAPT Programme.

ADAPT is an acronym for "Accelerated Delivery of Architectural Planning and Tendering". The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe during the stages of architectural planning.

The project brief is the development of a new 750 pupil Post-Primary School with 4 Classroom SEN Base on the existing site of Marist College, constructed on existing open space that is zoned appropriately. The development also includes the demolition of the existing school buildings as a Phase 2 of the project, to be carried out only when the new building is ready for occupation at Marist College Retreat Road, Cannonsfield, Athlone, Co. Westmeath.

The project is currently at Stage 1 – Preliminary Design, including an assessment of site, location suitability and initial sketch scheme.

The Design Team recently submitted a Stage 1 Report and Department officials will carry out a review of this report in due course.

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 roll out over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.

The NDP Implementation Plan for the Education and Youth sector and the first tranche of projects to progress to construction will be published by my department shortly. This NDP Implementation 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 current status of all projects is listed on a county-by-county basis at www.gov.ie. 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