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

The way we plan is to have several school projects at different stages in the architectural planning phases from the initiation, design, detailed architectural drawings, approval, evaluation, tender and on into construction. That is a pipeline and the Department works to the best of its ability to keep them all moving. We use every cent we get. We have drawn down an additional €100 million because of the quality of our planning and capacity to deliver. That does not mean that every school that wants a building will have it built the moment it wishes for it. There is a planning process.

We are put to the pin of our collar to meet the demographic growth, 80% of our money is going to build 18,000 new places, most of which are entirely new. There is expansion. We are meeting the demographic challenge of providing well over 100,000 additional school places. We are delivering those.

I fully recognise that in the case of announcements made about 70 projects which it was hoped would go to construction, that did not prove possible. They may have been over-optimistic as to whether they could be delivered in the time available. I can, however, show that the money devoted is delivering more and more school places every year. They are expanding the number we deliver and we are drawing down an additional €300 million in the new capital allocation to maintain that progress. It is putting a strain on funding to meet what we are very fortunate to have, a demographic bulge in our school population.

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