Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

When the minor works grant last issued in November 2011 for the school year 2011-12, I stated that, given the need to focus on meeting the demand for additional school places, it was unlikely that funding would be available for the minor works grant in the coming years. This is borne out by the fact that, in 2012, some 85% of the capital expenditure in the school sector was in respect of large scale projects, additional accommodation and prefab replacement. The balance was expended on site acquisition, emergency works, furniture and equipment provision and commitments arising from earlier years. Minor works grants have issued to primary schools since 1997, enabling significant investment in maintenance works across the entire school infrastructure over that period. While the focus of resources needs to be on providing additional school places, an emergency works fund continues in place to address emergencies that arise in schools. A sum of €10 million is set aside annually for such emergencies.

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