Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Overall, education expenditure will rise by 8%, or €690 million, to €9.3 billion in 2008. This will enable us to consolidate the major service improvements that have been put in place in recent years and make further progress in a wide range of areas.

On the 2008 budget, the Deputy will be aware of the importance the Government placed on carefully managing the public finances in the context of more moderate economic growth so that improvements can be sustained in the future. In this context, the provision of an additional €690 million for education services in the 2008 budget over the amount allocated in budget 2007 is significant.

The €9.3 billion being allocated in respect of education in 2008 includes provision for further progress in the following areas: almost €600 million will be invested in school buildings; funding for approximately 1,700 extra teachers and special needs assistants will be provided; expenditure on special education will increase to twice the 2004 amount; €800 million will be spent on tackling educational disadvantage; schools will receive increased funding to meet their day-to-day running costs; capital investment in our higher education colleges will increase by more than 20%; and an additional €12 million will be provided for research to ensure that Ireland is well placed to develop the technologies, processes and products that will be central to our future social and economic success.

While I would like to have been in a position to make greater progress this year on some of the specific commitments in the five-year programme for Government, particularly those relating to school funding and primary class sizes, I am nonetheless satisfied that the 2008 budget allocation of over €9.3 billion will enable me to progress the key overall objectives contained in the programme.

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