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

I wish to reassure the Deputy that there has been a substantial expansion in the capital budget. It has increased by €192 million since 2012 and that expansion continues. The Deputy is right to say that over the next three years a further €200 million - at €70 million per year - will be added to the schools capital programme. We continue to have very strong ambitions. It has, however, been a very difficult period, with well over 100,000 additional children entering our schools in a very short time. We have had to respond to that as flexibly as possible at a time when, as we all know, capital has been constrained. The Department has done it in an efficient way. Unlike most Departments, we never return money unspent. We have a very good planning process that identifies a pipeline of projects and we met the demands in that regard. The evidence is there, with 120,000 extra places provided in the period in question.

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