Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2018
231. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills his policy with respect to the design, construction and provision of general purpose rooms for existing primary and post-primary schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53151/18]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that in the case of school projects, my Department's Technical Guidance Documents set out the general principles of Universal Design in schools.
A suite of technical guidance documents is available on the Department's website (www.education.ie) to assist design teams in best practice design and development of projects and to encourage them to take a complete design team approach from project conception. These documents cover all aspects of the development of a building project for both internal and external works.
The Deputy will be aware that Under the National Development Plan (NDP), increased funding has been provided for the school sector capital investment programme. This funding allows for a continued focus on the provision of new permanent school places to keep pace with demographic demand and also provides for an additional focus on the refurbishment of existing school buildings to include the building and modernisation of PE facilities in post-primary schools.
Under the Ireland Project 2040, we will invest €8.4 billion (compared to €4.9 billion in the previous decade) in primary and post primary school buildings.
The immediate priority of my Department is providing 20,000 new and replacement school places each year, to ensure that every child has a school place. The government will focus in the medium term on the provision of PE facilities in schools.
