Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 April 2024
197. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Education whether her Department will consider a refurbishment of a building for a school building project (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18568/24]
View answerI can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application under the Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school in question. The project involves the reconfiguration of rooms in a vacant 1950s building to create 2x Special Education Needs Classrooms.
The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation.
Since 2020, my Department has invested in the region of €4.3 billion in our schools throughout the country, including the completion of over 750 school building projects with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects, which includes 34 new school buildings.
School building projects at construction involve an overall State investment of over €1.2 billion. We also have a large modular accommodation programme delivering urgently needed school places. This is a record level of investment in our schools and highlights the Government’s very strong track record of delivery in providing additional capacity and modern facilities for our school communities
The Department’s overall approach is to ensure that available capacity is maximised to the greatest extent possible as part of its consideration of applications for additional accommodation. Additionally, the Department is working to ensure that projects in the pipeline for planning and delivery are focused on maximising their alignment with overall capacity requirements.
The main focus of the Department’s capital funding over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of critical additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics and children with special education needs.
The Department is required to manage the overall school building programme so that we target and prioritise areas that are under greatest pressure for additional school places. This reflects our fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.
In Wexford alone, since 2020 my Department has invested €100.5m in our schools and completed 39 school building projects.
At the present time there are:
• 11 projects under construction
• 3 projects at Stage 3 - Tender
• 6 projects at Stage 2b - Detailed Design
I can confirm that my Department has arranged for the appointment of a project manager, under the Project Manager Framework. This project manager was tasked with undertaking a buildings condition report on this vacant building, in order to make an assessment on the suitability of the building for development and the costs this will entail
The report has recently been finalised and is currently being considered by officials in my Department. The school authorities will be contacted in due course in relation to this matter.
