Schools Building Projects
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-12
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Hildegarde Naughton (FG), Galway West

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that a project comprising two mainstream classrooms, two special education tuition rooms and one special education needs base has been devolved for delivery to the school authority. This project was approved in 2022 and my Department has been engaging with the school to support it through stage 1 of the architectural design process to advance a design solution that is consistent with the approved project brief and in line with the Department’s technical standards. My Department has recently issued advice to the school and is currently awaiting submission of a revised stage 1 report.
My Department has a strong track record of delivering the Government’s school building programme, with over €6 billion invested since 2020. In that period, my Department has provided €92.61 million in capital funding for Cavan schools. There are currently four school projects under construction across the county. A total of 24 schools have been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation.
As the Deputy will be aware, I have recently published the national development plan’s sectoral investment plan for education and youth, which is worth €7.55 billion out to 2030. This sets out my Department’s approach to prioritise investment in school infrastructure. There is a strong focus in the plan on maximising existing capacity and prioritising project roll-out to meet the most urgent needs, particularly to support special education provision. The project at the school in question forms part of this overall pipeline of school building projects that will continue to be managed in line with the funding parameters within which I have to work through the national development plan.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-12