School Accommodation
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-01
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

To be fair now, the question I was asked to respond to was in relation to investment in County Cork. There has been considerable investment right across the education system, and the Department of education has full sight of it. I acknowledge the frustration of schools that urgently need to progress to the next stage, but there has been serious engagement over recent weeks and months on how we are going to prioritise and make sure our investment in 2027 addresses the most critical points, such as the condition of buildings. We have also prioritised ensuring special education is put at the centre of capital expenditure across the education system. We are building capacity for special education at both primary and post-primary levels, and indeed in special schools.
It is not true to say the Department is not spending money. There is a huge investment commitment in the national development plan. That is cold comfort for the communities the Deputy mentioned, one of which has been waiting for four years and another for seven. We should be targeting our resources to ensure that the condition of buildings does not deteriorate to such an extent that we have to do massive jobs on them. We should be investing earlier. Under the national development plan, we have committed serious money for the coming years, and we will be working with the schools. The Deputy mentioned a number of schools. I certainly will reflect on those and on the special schools. We have 20 of them open.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-01