Schools Building Projects
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Hildegarde Naughton (FG), Galway West

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir as aird a tharraingt ar an ábhar seo. Tugann sé deis dom plé a dhéanamh ar stádas reatha an tionscadail seo.
I thank the Senator for raising this issue regarding Scoil an Chroí Naofa in Ballinasloe, County Galway. I recently visited the school with the Senator and other Oireachtas Members and elected representatives. I saw first hand the fantastic work happening there, through principal Christine Connor, her leadership team, the staff, the board of management and parents. A huge amount of work, dedication and commitment was on display to me and I want to commend them on the great work they are doing.
As the Senator knows, the building project for the school is a 16-classroom primary school with three classrooms for special education needs. The major building project is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, that is, stage 2B, detailed design. It includes an application for statutory approvals, which have been secured, and the preparation of tender documents. My Department received the stage 2B submission report from the design team in March 2025. A detailed review of the report by the multidisciplinary team commenced and comments subsequently issued to the design team requesting clarification. These comments have been addressed by the design team and the responses are currently undergoing a detailed review in my Department. Once the Department's due diligence and governance review has been completed, the project can be authorised to progress to the next stage, that is, stage 3, tender action and reward.
As part of the NDP implementation plan for the education and youth sector, a first tranche of projects to progress to tender or construction during this year and next was published in January 2026. The school was included as one of those 105 projects to proceed to tender. All school building projects over €10 million must be submitted for approval to the Department of public expenditure and reform before proceeding to construction. This school is one of a number of projects that will shortly be under review by the Department.
Since 2020, my Department, as Senator knows, has invested over €7 billion in our schools throughout the country under the NDP. Over 1,600 school building projects have been completed, along with 4,300 small scale improvement works to meet priority maintenance needs and advance energy efficiency climate goals. A total capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth has been confirmed for 2026 to 2030. As previously mentioned, the school is among the first tranche of 105 projects to progress to tender and construction in 2026 and 2027. As part of the NDP allocation, my Department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with additional needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. The project the Senator has raised caters for children with additional needs.
Since 2020, the Department has provided over €283 million in capital funding for schools in Galway. Over this period, a total of 98 schools have been upgraded through the provision of a new school building, extension, modular accommodation or a climate pathfinder. There were ten school projects included in the NDP implementation plan to progress to tender or construction, including this school. There are currently 17 large scale extension, modular or climate pathfinder projects under construction in Galway as well as other projects.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29