Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

That is a fair question and the short answer is "No". We have to start somewhere in terms of a list and a significant ramp-up of capital investment. What we saw yesterday was an effort to move forward a further 105 projects. That list consisted of 80 large-scale additional school accommodation projects and 25 further projects to be delivered under the modular accommodation programme. A total of 45 of the 80 projects were already at tender stage and 35 are projects that have planning permission or are at pre-tender stage. The criteria for identifying projects included projects that were ready to go to construction or to tender in 2026 or 2027; the condition of the school; projects in areas with capacity pressures; growing demographics; and projects in the pipeline for a long time. I take the Deputy's point that there are lots of schools but this is not the final word. This is an important tranche and we will look to build on this. As the Deputy knows, with capital projects there can be churn and there can be further opportunities. The Government and the Department will continue to engage with those schools, including the ones in Deputy O'Rourke's constituency.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29