William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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369. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the level of capital funding provided to primary and post-primary schools in County Laois in each of the years 2016-2025, by school, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29249/26]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Since 2020, my department has invested over €6.7 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,400 school building projects along with over 4,000 small-scale improvement works to meet priority maintenance needs and advance energy efficiency and climate goal. In addition, repurposing and optimisation of existing accommodation capacity across the school estate has been a key enabler of timely, local provision of special class capacity in a way that supports best practice in inclusion and integration. Circa 80% of new special classes in 2025/26 are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation.

The document attached provides details of my department’s capital expenditure in Laois by primary and post primary schools 2016-2025.

As the Deputy will be aware, I published the €7.55 billion NDP Sectoral Investment Plan for the Education and Youth Sectors for the period 2026 to 2030 earlier this year. This NDP Sectoral Plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. In this regard there will be a strong special education dimension to project rollout.

The department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years with the continued rollout of projects on a prioritised basis to meet the most urgent needs in terms of provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing facilities. In this regard, I have also published a list of the 105 school building projects in the first tranche to proceed to construction or tender over 2026 and 2027. This list includes 2 projects in County Laois. Additionally, 5 schools are approved to undergo works as part of the Climate Action Summer Works Scheme in County Laois this summer.

These projects are in addition to the circa €147 million in capital funding for County Laois schools since 2020. Over that period, a total of 29 schools have been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation. There are also currently 9 school projects in County Laois under construction. In addition, since 2020 a total of 64 special classes have been opened in County Laois, of which 7 were sanctioned for September 2026.

The current status of all projects, including those in County Laois, is set out under item number ten, at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/collections/building-works-for-the-construction-extension-and-refurbishment-of-schools/#school-building-projects-large-scale-additional-accommodation-scheme-current-status-lists. This is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender, construction and project completions.