Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

I should also point out that enhanced rates of capitation funding are paid in respect of children with special educational needs who attend special schools or special classes attached to mainstream schools. The current rates range from €457 to €880 per pupil — an average increase of about 42% on the rate payable in 2006. By any standards that is a significant improvement within a relatively short period of time. That funding does not include the salary costs of teachers and special needs assistants. Currently, there are 19,000 extra assistants in classrooms between SNAs, language support teachers and the other assistants provided in classrooms.

Budget 2008 provided my Department with €4.6 billion or €380 million extra for teacher pay and pensions. That allocation provides for more than 2,000 extra primary teachers than when the Government took office. In 2008 my Department will spend approximately €800 million on social inclusion measures across all levels of education, which represents an increase of approximately €70 million on 2007. That is testament to the Government's determination to prioritise social inclusion and ensure all our children and young people get the supports they need to do well at school.

In 2005 my predecessor launched DEIS, the action plan for educational inclusion, which focuses on addressing the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities. A total of 673 primary and 203 second level schools currently participate in the programme. Schools in DEIS can benefit from such measures as lower pupil-teacher ratio, additional capitation, access to school meals, planning supports and enhanced levels of school book grants. In the 2007 to 2008 school year, DEIS-related grants totalling approximately €14 million were paid to primary schools to meet the needs of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In addition to the improvements to funding we are also helping to achieve administrative efficiencies in our schools. An example of that was my Department's decision to take over the payroll for various categories of school staff, including more than 8,000 special needs assistants in primary schools, which avoids the inefficiencies and associated costs of having them paid individually at local school level. Similar type savings for schools are also expected to be achieved when part-time primary teachers are set up and paid through the Department's payroll rather than the current payment system, which is through a grant to individual schools. An on-line claims system for processing the payment of substitute teachers in schools has also been rolled out by my Department. Changes to procedures for advertising teaching posts have been made this year to enable schools to achieve reductions on advertising costs through the advertising of teaching vacancies on the Internet.

In every county in Ireland, we are working hard to ensure all schools have high-quality, modern facilities. That is not an easy task, given the need to reverse the effects of decades of under-investment in existing schools and to meet the demand for school buildings as a result of demographic changes, and the increase in the number of teachers in schools. However, huge progress is being made and should be acknowledged. The capital allocation for the school building programme has grown steadily in recent years from approximately €400 million in 2004 to €542 million in 2007 and to in excess of €586 million this year. That compares to approximately €92 million in 1997.

The budget for 2007 was the first year of the roll-out of the new national development plan, which will involve an investment of more than €4.5 billion in school building infrastructure in the coming years. The investment will be the largest in the history of the State and it will enable my Department to ensure school places will be available, where needed, and to continue to take a proactive approach to the modernisation of existing school building stock. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance have indicated clearly that they see the school building programme as productive investment in the future and they stated they will continue the level of investment in school building.

The principal component of the school building and modernisation programme is the delivery of large-scale projects. The expected completion of large-scale projects in 2008 will consist of 21 new schools and 46 extension-refurbishment projects giving an overall total of 67 large-scale projects. That is in addition to an overall total of 60 large-scale projects completed in 2007. An additional feature of the 2008 school building and modernisation programme is the provision of new schools in developing areas under an accelerated programme. This year, as part of a fast-track programme of construction my Department built six 16-classroom schools, 20 eight-classroom schools and a number of smaller projects in those areas where school accommodation was under greatest pressure. To achieve that unprecedented level of accommodation provision in such a short timeframe, my Department used a modern method of off-site construction to deliver buildings of first-class quality and design in the shortest possible timeframe.

In the construction of all new schools, my Department has been conscious of the need to promote sustainability and energy efficiency. My Department has produced technical guidance documents for those involved in school construction, which focus on four key areas, namely, design, awareness, research and technology. Schools that are designed and built in accordance with the Department's schools technical guidance documents are capable of being 2.3 times more energy efficient than schools built to best international practice.

In terms of ensuring value for money, my Department pioneered competitive fee bidding for design consultants on my Department's generic repeat design schools. Since January 2007, all new construction consultancy appointments have been on a competitive fee basis using the new Government conditions of engagement. As a result, in the past four years the cost of professional fees has been reduced by 20%.

With regard to the cost of construction contracts, my Department has pioneered fixed price tendering in the public sector, having operated fixed price tendering since 1993 for all projects with a construction duration of less than 15 months. On Monday, 29 September I announced a further tranche of projects to progress through the school building programme. These include five primary and two post-primary projects which are to prepare to go on site before the end of 2008; 12 primary and three post-primary projects are to proceed to tender, with a view to going on site in the first half of 2009; and three primary schools are to progress up to and including application for planning permission and preparation of tender documents, with a view to the earliest possible date to go on site. The projects announced were selected on the basis of need using the Department's prioritisation criteria. These criteria took into account factors such as growth in demand for school places as a result of demographic trends and the need to modernise existing schools.

Construction is also due to start in 2008 on the first bundle of public private partnership schools and the second bundle of schools were offered to the market earlier this year. It is planned that a further bundle will be offered to the market next year. Under the permanent accommodation and small schools scheme in 2007, some 130 projects were completed. To date in 2008, some 52 projects under these devolved projects have been completed, while a further 174 projects are under construction. In addition, a further 148 devolved projects have not yet gone on site but it is expected that the majority of these will be under construction before the year-end. With such a high level of activity underway, the completion of buildings in 2008 under these devolved schemes will significantly exceed the number of projects completed in 2007. I am glad it was acknowledged by Senator O'Toole that I introduced a new scheme this year which gives schools that have applied for grant aid to purchase prefabs the option of using the money to build permanent structures. The primary and post-primary capital allocation for 2008 is at an all time high. The combined output of traditional build schools, the extension and refurbishment projects and the schools fast-tracked for delivery in September 2008 has resulted in the practical completion of a record level of school building projects. When the large-scale projects are combined with the expected level of projects being completed under the permanent accommodation and small schools schemes this year, it is clear that the scale of delivery in 2008 is unprecedented and is an absolutely outstanding achievement.