Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 April 2024
127. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Education for an update on the proposed extension to a school (details supplied); when a decision will be made; and the timeline for delivery of the building. [16368/24]
View answerI can confirm to the Deputy that the school referred to has been approved for a project under my Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The project will provide 2 Mainstream Classrooms, a 2 Classroom SEN base and an Early Intervention Unit. This project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority and is currently awaiting approval to construction.
It is planned that close to 90 school building projects currently at tender stage will be authorised to proceed to construction over the course of 2024 and early 2025. These projects will provide new and modernised facilities to help schools cater for growing populations in their areas and include 138 classrooms for children with special education needs, which is a key priority for Government.
In total, around €800 million will be invested in these projects under the department’s Large Scale Capital Programme and Additional Accommodation Scheme for essential classroom accommodation.
This is a record level of investment in school buildings. It will expand the number of school places, significantly increase provision for special education and upgrade and modernise our school infrastructure. The impact of this will be felt in communities right around the country.
Since 2020, the Department of Education has invested around €4.5 billion in schools throughout the country. Around 800 school building projects have been completed and 300 other projects are under construction.
This level of construction roll-out recognises the priority that Government puts on investment in education. New medium term capital allocations for the Department of Education were confirmed in the recent review of National Development Plan allocations.
The projects moving to construction in this next phase will add in the region of 200,000 m2 of additional and modernised permanent capacity across the school estate and involve 28 new school buildings and 61 extensions at existing buildings.
Under the next phase of the school building programme, individual school building projects will be authorised to proceed to construction subject to assessment of tender reports and relevant due diligence by the Department’s Planning and Building Unit in line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines.
School building projects under construction involve an overall State investment of over €1.2 billion with most of these projects due for completion in 2024 and 2025. This is a record level of investment and highlights the Department’s very strong track record in providing additional capacity and modern facilities for our school communities.
The Department’s approach is to maximise the usage of existing capacity in the school estate and, in tandem with this, to manage the progression of the existing pipeline of projects within available budgets and in line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines. This allows the Department to keep a strong focus on the provision of additional capacity to cater for demographics, new housing developments and the roll-out of additional special classes for children with additional needs. The Department’s Modular Accommodation Programme is also used to provide additional capacity in the school estate to meet urgent requirements.
My Department has an overall pipeline of some 1300 projects across the school system. The status of all projects in the pipeline, including those at tender stage, is set out at www.gov.ie and 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 is committed to ensuring appropriate accommodation is available for the pupils in the school referred to by the Deputy and will, in the wider context outlined, ensure that this school's project as for all projects on our school building programme is subject to the due diligence required under the public Infrastructure Guidelines. My Department will be in contact with the school directly in this regard shortly.
