Schools Building Projects
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-22
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

With any funding going in from the State to new schools and buildings, it is important we have the special education part of it as well. That is a decision that has been taken by us in the Department to ensure we are accommodating children with additional needs within any new build. I take the point it has been 12 years. There was mention of 2011 and 2014. It has been too long. There is a report in with the Department and I will endeavour to find out where that is at. I also take the point that sometimes we spend an awful lot of time, effort and money to try to patch something up while we are waiting for the essential build. Deputy Crowe mentioned four years until completion. You are looking at a number of cohorts of students who started out thinking this would be completed by the time they were completing school and then it takes another round of students to go through the process again. I will look to have a meeting and serious engagement with the Deputies and the Department of education to ensure we can prioritise this and make sure any road blocks that are in the way are moved but also that we understand the challenges. Right across Dublin it is great to see schools that have space because we are really challenged with space in a lot of Dublin school communities. However, there is space here so we need utilise it and ensure we do that. I will endeavour to find out what is happening with the report that is with the Department since July 2025.
I will also endeavour to undertake the Deputies' request. I thank them very much.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-22