Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A school is included in the programme for a particular year, which means that the Department will engage with the school on delivery in that year. However, the supply chain which involves planning, design, approval, tendering and so on, is of such a length that cannot be fully determined. Therefore, we cannot say it will happen in month X or Y because it depends on the complexity of the work on the site. We have often come across additional traffic or conditions to be applied in the planning phase, meaning that the school has to come back and obtain approval from the Department. It is not by any means a perfect science, but it means that the process is due to start in the particular year. Some projects will move very rapidly through the process, depending on their nature. To try to deal with this, we have introduced what are termed rapid builds. Because of this concern and the need to move more quickly the Department has developed a variety of faster track initiatives.

I have details of average retirement lump sums.

The average retirement lump sum of primary teachers is €89,000; of second level and community college teachers, is €83,000; of ETB staff, both teaching and non-teaching, is €48,000; and of IOT staff, teaching and non-teaching, is €59,000.