Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If the Deputies want to send on individual projects, I can follow up to see at what stages they are. It is important to stress that there is record investment going into school buildings. We have 3,000 primary schools and 700 post-primary schools. The priority and focus always has to be to make sure, where additional accommodation is required, that we do this first, if an extension is required. I fully accept that some schools are decades old and need to be refurbished but we need to make sure that the steady pipeline is being worked through and it is being done as quickly as possible.

This year alone, we have more than 300 projects, which are costing €1.5 billion, so these are not small projects. These are new schools, extensions and refurbishments. Much of the funding is being invested in making sure that the school places we have been discussing, in particular the special school places, can be provided and rolled out. I commit that the Department will work with principals and teachers to make sure that as many projects as possible can be rolled out. My role is to make sure we get as much money in the budget as possible. The more I can get this year and the more I can get in the national development plan review, the more we can invest in our schools' infrastructure.

See this speech in context