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

I thank Deputy O'Hara for raising this important issue and join him in celebrating the 30th anniversary of Gort Community School's foundation. As the Deputy will be aware, the school was approved to enter the Department's pipeline for a project under the additional school accommodation scheme. The project will provide 19 general classrooms, seven SET rooms, two meeting rooms, one deputy principal's office, three classroom SEN bases, one art room, one home economics room, one graphics room, three science laboratories with two prep areas, one construction studies room with a prep area, one engineering room and prep area, three project stores, one staff room, one general purpose or dining area and other ancillary accommodation. The project was devolved to the school authority for delivery. It is currently at stage 2b, developed design. The stage 2b report was submitted to the Department in April 2026 and is currently being reviewed from a technical and cost perspective. All projects, including this one, undergo the necessary due diligence outlined in the public infrastructure guidelines.
Although this project is not in the first tranche of school building projects recently published in the NDP sectoral investment plan, it remains part of the Department's overall pipeline of school building projects. The NDP school sectoral plan involves a strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. In this regard, there will be a strong special education dimension to project roll-out. The Department of education will continue to build on the progress made in recent years with the continued roll-out of projects on a prioritised basis to meet the most urgent needs in terms of provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing facilities. As part of planning ahead for the progress to tender of the next tranche of projects, the Department-led prioritisation process will continue over the course of 2026 and 2027 to assess and evaluate the progression of individual projects through the design pipeline, having regard to the continual need to maximise existing capacity and determine the prioritised needs going forward. This process will involve engagement with key stakeholders and individual schools and ultimately inform the next tranches of programme roll-out to tender.
The Department-led energy and conditions survey of the school estate, which will be finalised later in 2026, will provide an additional evidence base for assessing priorities. Based on this ongoing prioritisation process, some projects may be added to the list over the course of 2026 and 2027, having regard to their prioritisation and urgency of need and taking account of the ongoing ability to progress them to tender and construction within the parameters of overall funding.
Where appropriate, the Department of education will also assess opportunities to undertake advance enabling works for the most urgent and complex projects to facilitate a smooth progression to construction in 2028 and beyond. Any interim accommodation requirements will continue to be assessed and considered by the Department on a case-by-case basis to determine the prioritised needs and the best approach for addressing same.

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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