Schools Building Projects
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-10
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Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

I certainly will bring that back to the Department and to the Minister and the Deputy’s emphasis on the urgency of moving this project on. I know that whenever three schools are brought together for one project like this, it is a big commitment on behalf of all three schools. It is not easy to keep everybody on the one page and it is important the project keeps moving. I will reflect back to the Department and the Minister the full content of what the Deputy has been saying.
As I said in my previous response, the Department asked the design team in early June this year to submit an addendum stage 2a report to the Department. This was received on 31 October 2025, some five or six weeks ago. The departmental officials will be carrying out a full review of that addendum report. They are committing to a stakeholders meeting being scheduled once that review is complete. This is where the process is at now. I take on board the points made by the Deputy in terms of the urgency of completing that review and giving clarity in terms of when the meeting will happen and having it happen so that the process can then move forward.
On a wider note, to summarise where we are at generally and where this situation sits within the wider overall investment plans, which are going to be important in terms of moving this and other projects forward, €6 billion has been invested since 2020, as the Deputy knows. This has seen 1,300 school projects completed. In 2025 to 2026, 80% of new special classes are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation, so there is particular pressure in respect of addressing that need. Departments, including the Department of education, are currently in the process of publishing their sectoral NDP implementation plans. The sectoral plan for the Department of Education and Youth will be published next week and the first tranche of projects to progress to construction will be published in January 2026. This NDP implementation plan will optimise outputs from the national development plan allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools and areas is insufficient and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money and meets functional needs.
I certainly will feed back the full content of the Deputy’s contribution and the need for the prioritisation of this project.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:27+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-10