Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 November 2021
354. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Education if her Department has received an application for additional classroom accommodation from a school (details supplied); if so, if she will outline the next steps by her Department in processing the application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55722/21]
View answerI can confirm to the Deputy that my Department received an application for capital funding, under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school authority referred to by the Deputy. A decision on this application has issued to the school authority.
The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation.
At primary level, this situation generally arises to cater for a school’s accommodation requirements where an additional teaching post has been sanctioned by Teacher Allocation Section, or a new SEN class has been sanctioned by the NCSE, and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes.
The main focus of resources over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics. The second half of the National Development Plan will see an increasing focus on the upgrade and refurbishment of the existing school stock.
