328. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on a capital project for a school (details supplied). [67848/26]

I can confirm that an application for funding under the department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme was received from the school in question. The school's application is currently under consideration.

The department has published the NDP (National Development Plan) Sectoral Investment Plan for the Education and Youth Sectors 2026-2030. This NDP Sectoral Plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs while within the allocated capital funding across all schools in the country.

This allows the department to keep a strong focus on the provision of additional capacity to cater for demographics, new housing developments and the roll-out of additional special classes for children with additional needs. This approach reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.

The Department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years with the continued rollout of projects on a prioritised basis to meet the most urgent needs in terms of provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing facilities. In this regard, there will continue to be a strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity across the school estate and also ensuring that school admissions policies and processes are targeted at meeting local mainstream and special class requirements.

As soon as a decision on the school's application had been made, contact will be made with the school authority directly.