734. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on the capital project for a school (details supplied). [41461/26]

The major project referred to by the Deputy is being delivered under my Departments ADAPT Programme.

ADAPT is an acronym for "Accelerated Delivery of Architectural Planning and Tendering".

The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe during the stages of architectural planning.

The brief for this project is to deliver a new permanent 8 classroom Primary School with 2 classes for pupils with special educational needs, at the schools current location in Mount Merrion.

The major project is currently at Stage 2(a) of Architectural Planning.

Stage 2(a) – Developed Design - is a crucial element of the architectural planning process as it is at this stage that the design is developed to a stage where it can be fully cost planned and prepared to lodge for statutory approvals.

The Design Team submitted a Stage 2a Report in August 2025 and my Department officials are currently carrying out their review of this report.

Since 2020, my department has invested over €6.9 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,400 school building projects along with over 4,000 small-scale improvement works to meet priority maintenance needs and advance energy efficiency and climate goal. In addition, repurposing and optimisation of existing accommodation capacity across the school estate has been a key enabler of timely, local provision of special class capacity in a way that supports best practice in inclusion and integration. Circa 80% of new special classes in 2025/26 are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation.

This investment has delivered real benefits for school communities.

A total capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth has been confirmed for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan. As part of this NDP allocation my 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 rollout 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 rollout over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.

As part of the NDP Implementation Plan for the education and youth sector, a first tranche of projects to progress to tender and/or construction during 2026 and 2027 was published in January 2026. Prioritisation will continue to identify further tranches of projects to proceed to tender and construction over the NDP period, with stakeholder consultation to commence in June 2026.

Our 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.

I wish to inform the Deputy that the Department of Education has provided €1906.47 million in capital funding for Dublin schools.

Over this period, a total of 261 schools have been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation.

20 school projects to go to tender or construction in 2026 and 2027 were included in the NDP Implementation Plan.

There are currently 54 school projects in Dublin under construction. This summer, 53 schools are approved to undergo works as part of the Climate Action Summer Works Scheme.

In addition, since 2020 a total of 529 special classes have been sanctioned in Dublin, of which 128 were sanctioned for September 2026.