Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

——the needs of the new areas.

The challenge before the Government, therefore, in addressing the historical legacy of under investment in school buildings and in meeting the needs of developing areas has been a significant one. Major progress has been made and continues to be made over a relatively short period of time. During the period of the National Development Plan 2000-2006, the Government accelerated the school building programme with record levels of investment and the streamlining of delivery systems. Over €2.6 billion was invested in more than 7,800 building projects. Last year, in the first year of the new NDP, 1,500 more projects were completed, ranging from small scale works, such as new roofs and windows, up to extensions and entirely new schools. With this scale of activity underway in recent years, virtually every school has benefited from at least one building project. The National Development Plan 2007-2013 sets out an investment of over €4.5 billion in school buildings to ensure that further progress can be made in coming years.

This year, €586 million will be spent on school buildings. The progress of any individual school in the building programme is conditional on the amount of money available. It would be very easy to assure teachers in these schools that the works needed will be done this year. If I had billions of euro to spend this year it could be done but I do not have such money. I have €586 million, which is a substantial amount of money but within that we must prioritise. What will happen with that money?

This year it will enable the completion of work on 67 large-scale primary school projects that will deliver 7,000 additional permanent school places in new schools and 2,300 additional permanent school places in existing schools. It will also fund construction work on more than 150 devolved projects under the permanent accommodation scheme, which will provide 8,000 additional places in existing primary schools. In the post-primary sector, construction work will be completed on 19 large scale-projects which will provide 2,400 permanent school places in four new schools and additional accommodation and refurbishment works in 15 schools that will benefit over 7,000 pupils.

The direct post-primary capital allocation of €196 million will be boosted by the public private partnership programme, which predominantly features the delivery of second-level school buildings. With so many small projects having been completed since the summer works scheme was introduced in 2003, the focus this year is on major works. As I have said previously, however, there will be a new summer works scheme in 2009.