I thank Deputy McGreehan for her question. It gives me pleasure to have the opportunity to provide an update to the House on the current position in relation to accommodation at Monksland National School in County Louth. The school is a co-educational Catholic school under the patronage of the Archbishop of Armagh. It has an enrolment in 2025-2026 of 139 pupils, which includes pupils in the two special education classes that were established at the school in 2022. In line with the national decline in primary demographics, the enrolment at the school had decreased from 151 in 2023. At a national level, primary school enrolments are projected to decline by about 100,000 over a ten-year period. In 2022, the school submitted an application for additional accommodation at Monksland National School. On foot of this application, modular accommodation comprising two special educational needs classrooms and one special educational tuition classroom was delivered in April of 2024. That is currently in place and operational. Modular accommodation provides a high-quality, modern learning environment that is both functional and adaptable, and it offers a well-designed comfortable space that effectively meets the school's current needs while allowing flexibility for future requirements. In July of last year, the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026 to 2030 under the national development plan. As part of this NDP allocation, the Department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project roll-out for large-scale projects and additional school accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project roll-out over the course of 2026 to 2030 to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs. The sectoral plan for the education and youth sector will be published shortly. The first tranche of projects to progress to construction will be published at that time. This NDP implementation plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money and meets functional needs. All existing school building projects and applications for accommodation will be considered in this context, with a particular focus on ensuring existing capacity is maximised. My Department has recently engaged with the Deputy's school, I understand, and will continue to work with the school to ensure that the current and the future school place needs are addressed.

Sentiment score: 0.34

I thank the Deputy again for raising this issue with me. Deputy Paula Butterly had also raised the issue of this school. I will ask the Department about those previous applications. As I said, we have to look at the existing capacity within schools across the country when we are looking at providing spaces. The priority is for special educational places across the country. We are committed to ensuring that there is appropriate accommodation available for all pupils in the wider context and to ensure that each school project on the schools building programme is subject to due diligence required under the Government's infrastructure guidelines. It is a challenging construction environment we are working in right across the education, transport and housing sectors so the Department also has to manage the timing, scope and cost of individual projects to ensure they remain within budgetary parameters for the overall programme. That involves constant reviewing throughout a project's life cycle. As I said, as part of the NDP implementation project roll-out for large-scale projects and additional school accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be on a tightly prioritised basis to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate and to provide additional capacity through that targeted and prioritised project roll-out over the course of 2026 to 2030. I will follow up, maybe with the Department as well, in relation to those specific issues.

Sentiment score: 0.22

I thank Deputy Farrelly for raising this matter and giving me the opportunity to provide an update to the House on the school building project at St. Farnan's Post Primary School in Prosperous, County Kildare. The project brief is to provide a new-build replacement school for a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils, including a four-classroom special educational needs base. The delivery of this project has been devolved to Kildare Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB. The project is in the final stages of stage 2B, which is the post-planning process, of the architectural design. This stage allows for detailed design and planning, obtaining necessary statutory permissions and preparation of tender documents. Planning has been granted and KWETB has been advised the stage 2B report is expected to be submitted in 2026. Once received it will undergo a detailed technical and cost review in line with the public spending code. All projects are subject to the due diligence requirements of the public infrastructure guidelines. Managing the time, scope and cost is crucial to staying within budgetary limits for the overall programme. Regarding additional accommodation requirements, the Department has provided temporary accommodation that includes four general classrooms, an office, a construction studies room and a multimedia room, which the Deputy referred to. KWETB and the design team have worked with the modular supplier to expedite delivery and reconfiguration of this accommodation to meet the school’s needs. At this early stage it is not possible to provide a timeline for completion of the project. KWETB will continue to engage directly with the school authorities to keep them fully informed of progress. In July 2025, the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026 to 2030 under the national development plan. As part of this NDP allocation, the Department will place a strong emphasis on children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project roll-out for large scale projects and additional school accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project roll-out over the course of 2026 to 2030 to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs. Government Departments are in the process of publishing their sectoral NDP implementation plans and the sectoral plan for my Department will be published shortly. The first tranche of projects to progress to construction will be published this month. This NDP implementation plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient and ensuring the delivery is affordable, offers value for money and meets functional needs.

Sentiment score: 0.24

I thank the Deputy. I can certainly hear his passion for this project. As I have said, the Department is committed to ensuring appropriate accommodation is available to all school pupils and will in the wider context outlined ensure each school project on the school building programme is subject to the due diligence required under the public infrastructure guidelines. It is a challenging construction environment, as I said, and we are also required to ensure we are managing the timing, scope and cost of all these projects within the budgetary parameters that are set. The length of time projects take depends on a number of factors, including scale and complexity. It is also subject to the time it takes to progress to the various project stages and the statutory approval processes. However, my Department remains committed to providing ongoing guidance and practical support in the delivery of this project. As I outlined previously, Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board is the delivery body for this large-scale, major project and will continue to engage with the school authorities on this matter. I thank the Deputy for raising it this evening.

Sentiment score: 0.48