Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 October 2024
96. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education when a response will issue to a communication from a school (details supplied) in County Donegal relating to a grant aid for major capital works and a Department of Education inspector visit; when the inspector will visit the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39234/24]
View answerI can confirm to the Deputy, that approval was provided under my Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme in 2022 for modular accommodation to provide one mainstream classroom and two special education tuition rooms. In early 2023, the brief for the school was reviewed and a further special education needs classroom was added to the scope. This accommodation has since been delivered.
Modular accommodation being provided to schools today is high quality, robust and durable. All new buildings, including modular buildings, are required to meet the Near Zero Energy Building, or NZEB, standard, which ensures high levels of energy efficiency, thermal performance and sustainability.
The school in question also accepted a traditional build project under the ASA scheme for two mainstream classrooms and two special education teaching rooms. The school authorities progressed this project to Stage 3, tender stage. However, the school has now made the decision not to proceed with this project.
I can confirm to the Deputy that the Department is in receipt of a letter dated the 28th February 2024 from the Board of Management of the school in question in relation to the acquisition of a greenfield site by the school. Furthermore, the school recently submitted a "First Level Education", or FLE, application for a new school building.
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 the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.
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 overall position with regard to potential modernisation and replacement of existing school infrastructure will be kept under review.
Since 2020, the department has invested over €5 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 950 school building projects and with construction currently underway at approximately 350 other projects, which includes 37 new school buildings. These 350 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of over €1.5bn.
The Department announced earlier in the year that close to 90 projects, including 28 new school buildings, would be authorised to proceed from tender stage to construction over the course of 2024 and early 2025. 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.
Between projects currently under construction and projects moving to construction in this latest phase, investments by the Department of Education are adding over 550,000 square metres of new and modernised capacity to our school estate.
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.
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.
There are no current plans for a school inspector to visit the school in question. However, my officials will be in further contact with the school in due course in relation to their FLE application
