{"id":308333,"date":"2026-01-28T17:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/308333\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T17:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:19:09","slug":"minister-brushes-off-suggestion-galway-schools-prioritised-in-e1-6bn-investment-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/308333\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister brushes off suggestion Galway schools prioritised in \u20ac1.6bn investment \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Government TD has claimed that schools in Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton<\/a>\u2019s home county were given \u201cpriority\u201d in a \u20ac1.6 billion investment package.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Government announced a list of 105 school construction projects that will go to tender or construction this year and in 2027. Schools across the country have been waiting for permission to go to tender on projects, with many waiting years for sign-off.<\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> TD Malcolm Byrne said that there was one school in Co Wexford<\/a> and three in Co Wicklow<\/a> included in the list, \u201cbut 10 in the minister\u2019s home county of Galway<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking at schools like Bunclody Community College who\u2019ve been waiting years and they\u2019re not being included in the list,\u201c he told The Irish Times. \u201dI don\u2019t know what the criteria is that\u2019s being used, but if you\u2019re from the Minister\u2019s home county, that seems to be getting priority.”<\/p>\n

The \u20ac1.6 billion investment figure represents the first tranche of an overall \u20ac7.55 billion education package under the National Development Plan (NDP)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Byrne said the reasons for some schools being selected ahead of others was not clear. He added: \u201cI get every school can\u2019t go ahead at the same time, but the criteria is not clear . . . My argument is that decisions should be on the basis of need. I do find this rather bizarre. Why are 10 per cent of the schools in Co Galway?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Naughton\u2019s spokeswoman has been contacted for comment in response to Mr Byrne\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

Ms Naughton, a Fine Gael TD, announced the NDP investment plans at Powerstown Educate Together National School in Dublin on Wednesday morning. <\/p>\n

At the announcement, she was asked about 10 of the 105 projects being located in Co Galway. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a number of counties where there is a large number of schools listed,\u201d she replied. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, in Kildare, which would be a large commuter area. The population is increasing there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is ongoing demand in these areas in relation to the demographics and these are decisions that we have to make around projects that maybe have got planning permission, have had a lot of engagement with the Department [of Education] and are really under pressure in those specific areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work is ongoing,\u201d she said, adding that \u201cit\u2019s a rolling document right out to 2030\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Naughton said her department will be carrying out work on the condition of all schools across the country and \u201clooking at existing capacity and looking at how the demographics may change out to 2030\u2033.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo some others will be added to that list in time as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said there were specific educational demands in particular areas. \u201cI\u2019m acutely aware of demands \u2013 we all are \u2013 right across the country, whether it\u2019s special education or just school places in particular and it\u2019s important we are planning now for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said of the NDP investment plan: \u201cThis is a significant investment by Government into our education system ensuring that children right across the country have access to state of the art facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Government TD has claimed that schools in Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton\u2019s home county were given \u201cpriority\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,13264,18,13,14,6,29353,19,17,11,12,15,16,42224,10915,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-308333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-department-of-education","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-hildegarde-naughton","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-malcolm-byrne","23":"tag-national-development-plan","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115973872870240561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}