Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 263: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the capital spending on school buildings construction, including siteworks, in the last year for which figures are available. [5825/06]

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 264: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the capital spending on school car parks in the last year for which figures are available. [5826/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 263 and 264 together.

The school building programme is structured around a number of component elements or sub-programmes. These include large scale building projects, various devolved minor works initiatives, site acquisitions, remediation programmes, provision of temporary accommodation and the small schools initiative. Data within my Department are recorded and stored by reference to these component parts rather than the specific categories to which the Deputy refers. As a result, it is not possible to disaggregate the actual spend in any one year on either site works per se or on car parking.

It would be expected that virtually every project involving the delivery of new facilities at a school will have both car parking and site works as intrinsic elements to the overall works. My Department expended in excess of €619 million in 2005 across the education sector in respect of capital works.