Schools Building Projects
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown

I am very grateful to Deputy Ó Laoghaire for raising this very pertinent issue in relation to Owenabue Educate Together National School in Carrigaline, County Cork. The Deputy is right that he could be reading this about at least seven different schools in my constituency. I have, therefore, great empathy for the case the Deputy raised and for the entire school community.
As alluded to, this school building project will deliver a new 16-classroom primary school and additional accommodation for children with special educational needs at Janeville in Carrigaline, County Cork. The project is currently at stage 1, preliminary design, assessment of site and location suitability and initial sketch scheme. As part of the stage 1 process, the design team submits a stage1 report to the Department. A preferred design option, including the scope and extent of works to be carried out, forms part of this report. The stage 1 report was received in the Department in January 2025 and upon completion of the Department of education's due diligence review, the stage 1 stakeholders meeting took place on 24 March 2025. The principal, a representative from the patron body, Educate Together, all design team members, the project manager and Department officials were in attendance. The meeting concluded with agreement that the design team would explore further design layout options. On 30 April 2025, an architectural workshop took place between the design team architect and the Department senior architect. The Department received the full design team stage 1 addendum report in August 2025 and this report is currently under review by the Department of education. On completion of this review, the Department will be in contact with the school and patron with regard to the further progression of the project.
For wider context, as the Deputy is aware, the Government recently published the €7.55 billion national development plan, NDP, sectoral investment plan for education. Of the total €7.55 billion investment, it is envisaged that circa €5 billion will be used for project roll-out to support the delivery and modernisation of school buildings. The Department has also published a list of the 105 school building projects in the first tranche to proceed to construction or tender over 2026 and 2027. This list includes 12 projects in County Cork. The first tranche of 105 school building projects includes 80 large-scale and additional school accommodation scheme projects.
To be frank, I think this will be a slightly frustrating reply for the Deputy and those on whose behalf he raised the issue. It is, however, typical of a process that is in the middle of the weeds. It would be irresponsible of me, on behalf of the Minister, to provide false information at this stage, other than to say that this is the review that is in place. What I would humbly suggest is that the Deputy consider bringing a deputation from the school for a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Naughton. I would be more than happy to play my part to ensure that is delivered as soon as possible.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23