Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In terms of the capital allocation and based on demographic changes, we expect we will need 19,000 more places in primary schools and 43,000 more places in post-primary schools over the next six years.

I acknowledge the Deputy is asking about a five-year period, but we have done the figures for six because that is the length of the capital programme. That is the demographic rise. In terms of the capital costs for classrooms, I have already answered in a way, but it is hard to assess. If schools have spare capacity, one will not need to build more classrooms. One does not need a new classroom unless the class has to divide in two depending on the numbers. It is difficult to give the Deputy an actual figure, but we can probably carry out an assessment to give him as close a figure as we can get. However, as we would need to look at the circumstances of every school in the country in terms of spare provision, we do not have a precise figure on the capital cost.

See this speech in context