Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 February 2024
269. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Education further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 342 and 343 of 20 September 2023, if she has made a decision on the Stage 2B planning report received by her Department in relation to a school (details supplied); and if she can share an update on the progression of the project. [7540/24]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, the school to which he refers was approved a school building project under the Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme.
The project is being managed on a devolved basis by Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, on behalf of the school authority and a design team was appointed for the project.
The project approved consists of the building of a four classroom SEN base as an extension to the existing school building, secure hard and soft play areas, a sensory garden and associated works with the school's car park.
I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department has received a Stage 2b (post planning approval) report from the school. This report is currently being reviewed from both a technical and cost perspective in accordance with the requirements of the Public Spending Code. This review is in the final stages and my Department will be in contact with LMETB directly once the review of this report has been completed.
There is an overall pipeline of some 1300 projects across the school system. The current status of all projects is listed on a county by county basis at www.gov.ie. and this is updated on a regular basis to reflect project progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction.
My Department has a strong track record of delivery of school building projects and this was achieved again in 2023 notwithstanding the wider construction sector environment of high inflation, labour shortages and supply chain issues.
Under Project Ireland 2040, we are investing over €5 billion during the period 2021 to 2025, to add capacity and develop and upgrade school facilities across the country for the almost one million students and over 100,000 staff that learn and work in our schools every day.
My Department is very appreciative of the strong support provided by Government for our education budget. As part of the supplementary budget, €405m additional capital funding was provided in 2023. This helped to alleviate capital funding pressures that arose in 2023, which was reflective of the strong delivery by my Department of school building projects – particularly to support mainstream provision accommodating Ukrainian students, and special education needs provision. My Department’s overall capital out-turn for 2023 was €1.264 billion.
We continue to have a strong pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme involving circa. 300 projects currently at construction, which include 34 new school buildings. We also have a large modular accommodation programme delivering urgently needed school places. The Department has always operated a tightly prioritised approach to the school building programme, focused over recent years on the delivery of additional capacity where required, and this will continue to be the case.
