David Maxwell (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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356. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the current status of the additional school accommodation project for a school (details supplied); the timeline for the next stages of delivery; when further correspondence will issue to the school community, in light of the fact that funding has been formally approved by her Department and planning permission has been granted by Monaghan County Council, and given that the project has been ongoing since 2023. [17297/26]

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 for school building projects under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme to provide one mainstream classroom and one special education tuition rooms. This project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority.

The project was approved to progress to Stage 2b (planning) in September 2024. A Stage 2B report was received in June 2025 which is currently under review from a technical and cost perspective. All school building projects, including this one, will undergo the necessary due diligence outlined in the Infrastructure Guidelines. Managing timing, scope, and cost is crucial to ensuring that the overall school building programme remains within the funding parameters.

My department has a strong track record of delivering the Government’s School Building Programme with over €6 billion invested since 2020.

As the Deputy will be aware, I have recently published the €7.55 billion NDP Sectoral Investment Plan for the Education and Youth Sectors for the period 2026 to 2030. This sets out my department’s approach to prioritised investment in school infrastructure. There is a strong focus in the plan on maximising existing capacity and prioritising project rollout to meet the most urgent needs particularly to support special education needs provision.

The project at the school in question forms part of this overall pipeline of school building projects that will continue to be managed in line with available NDP funding.