Written answers

Tuesday, 24 October 2006

Department of Education and Science

Schools Refurbishment

9:00 pm

Photo of Paul GogartyPaul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 612: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the plans in place to enforce the recent recommendations by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, with regard to education, that state, for example Article 59 b, to ensure that budgetary allocations are also directed at improving and upgrading school buildings, recreational equipment and facilities, and sanitary conditions in schools. [34324/06]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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This Government is determined to ensure that every child is educated in a suitable and comfortable environment. Under the largest school building programme in the history of the State we are spending nearly €500 million on school buildings in 2006, compared to just over €90 million in 1997.

Between 2000 and 2005 my Department invested over €2 billion on educational infrastructure on over 6,500 individual school projects. This investment is catering for the construction of new schools, large scale extensions and refurbishments, a wide range of projects under the Summer Works Scheme and a variety of other schemes. This process of modernising our school buildings is addressing the issues raised by the Deputy and will continue to do so.

While the challenge before us in reversing decades of under-investment in school buildings and in responding to emerging needs in new population areas is great, nonetheless we are making huge progress.

I can further assure the Deputy that the €3.9 billion being provided over the five years 2006-2010 for capital projects at all levels of the education sector from primary to third level will provide for even more improvements to be made.

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