Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 May 2023
160. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Education how a school can commence engagement with her Department with a view to requesting a new school site and building; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25456/23]
View answerAs the Deputy will appreciate, 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 particularly at post-primary level and for special education needs provision. The immediate priority of my Department is providing new and replacement school places each year, to ensure that every child has a school place.
Under Project Ireland 2040 the education sector will receive a total of approximately €4.4 billion capital investment over the period 2021-2025. There will be a rolling 5 year funding envelope which will be updated annually for the period 2026 to 2030 within the Government’s overall NDP funding envelope of €136 billion in exchequer capital (€165 billion total capital including non-Exchequer) that will facilitate building a modern and sustainable school infrastructure.
This significant investment allows us to move forward with certainty on our ambitious plans and deliver high quality building projects, with a real focus on sustainability, for school communities across Ireland. There will be a strengthened focus on refurbishment and modernisation of existing school stock, in particular cognisance of climate action targets.
In the interim, if a school has a deficit of accommodation it is open to it to apply under my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme. The purpose of this scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom accommodation and accommodation for pupils with special education needs 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 the requirement for a new class for pupils with special education needs has been identified by the NCSE, and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes.
Further information on the ASA scheme is available at www.gov.ie/en/service/563cae-additional-accommodation-scheme/
