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

The budgetary increase of €465 million which I secured for my Department in budget 2017 will support implementation of my Department’s goals, set out in the action plan for education. The increased allocation will mean more classroom and resource teachers, more special needs assistants, continued restoration of guidance posts, increases in new entrant teacher pay resulting from agreements with the TUI and INTO, continued progress on curricular reform, support for school leadership, implementation of the forthcoming action plan for disadvantaged schools, an increased allocation for school transport and provision for the first significant investment in higher education in a number of years.

My Department closely monitors all expenditure on an ongoing basis. It is too early in the year to identify definitively any significant budgetary pressures, which typically become manifest in the last quarter of the year following the start of the new academic year. This results from demographic and other demand pressures and the impact of retirements on the superannuation allocation. Funding for school capital was largely determined under the capital investment plan published in September 2015 and the 2017 allocation was confirmed in the most recent budget.

My Department plans to spend in excess of €400 million on the construction of large-scale projects and on the additional accommodation scheme. While my Department continues in the first instance to ensure sufficient school places within the sector, it is intended at the mid-term capital review to seek a higher level of funding to address, in particular, replacement and refurbishment school projects.

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