A total of 17 schools have so far been assessed as having structural defects of a level that warrant protective interim works to be carried out before they can open on Monday.
They include six Dublin schools already informed of problems with their buildings requiring urgent intervention.
This number is significantly higher than earlier informal estimates.
The number of schools affected may increase tomorrow, because decisions have only been made in the case of 29 schools.
Whether emergency works are required or not in a further 13 schools will be decided on Thursday.
All of the schools were constructed in recent years by Western Building Systems (WBS).
Of the 29 schools where assessments have been completed and decisions made:
- 14 have been cleared to open in full on Monday but with external interventions in the form of a fence around the building and protective decking over doorways. These include two schools previously announced. All but one of these 14 are primary schools. They were all built between 2011 and 2016 by WBS.
- As previously announced, three Dublin primary schools will have access to only their ground floors following the erection of fences and decking externally and the bolstering of walls internally.
- 11 schools have been cleared to open in full next Monday without further intervention.
- The 29th school is Ardgillan Community College in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, where the controversy began. A section of the building constructed in 2009 has been closed.
The Department of Education has contacted all school principals to inform them of the latest situation.
Officials met structural engineers, consultants and other construction experts in Tullamore to work out a complete picture.
The 14 schools that require external fencing and over doorway decking to be installed are:
The following 11 schools have been cleared to open on Monday as usual, with no intervention needed:
In a statement, WBS said it had no details of the recent assessments.
Referring to the fact that a number of schools deemed to have defects were built after new regulations were introduced in 2014, the company said that some projects had been "inspected and approved as compliant in line with the new building regulation control process".
Minister for Education Joe McHugh and the Government have stated that regulations introduced in 2014 greatly strengthened oversight and obligations as to standards in construction here.
However, four of the schools found to have flaws requiring urgent intervention were built in 2016.
WBS said: "We do not know what any conclusions reached at this point are based on. So far, we have been invited to meet with the department’s inspectors and officials at 13 of the 42 schools.
"We had insufficient time on site to make structural evaluations."
WBS said the schools were previously deemed "free from defects" by the Department of Education.
It said that the schools were "described less than twelve months ago by the then Minister as being built to the highest standards, are now being deemed to require remedial works".
It added: "That such a turnaround is now being reached is troubling on a wider scale."
WBS said that it was continuing to engage with the department and was keen to meet Mr McHugh.
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Work begins on structural problems at Dublin schools
