Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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Question 157: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills, with regard to the process leading to the publication of the Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-2016 plan by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, if he was instructed to make recommendations up to the total value for education projects identified in the plan; if he recommended additional school development projects which were not included in the plan, and to what value; the criteria and analysis that were used to arrive at the total figure of 40 new schools to be built under the plan, as opposed to a higher or lower number; the criteria and analysis that were used to identify the schools selected to be built or extended under the plan and the estimated cost of these works for each school; and if a ranking or priority list was produced of the schools to be built. [37126/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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At its meeting on 11 April 2011, the Government approved the preparation of a new capital investment framework for the period from 2012, to be prepared by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. That Department wrote to my Secretary General on 28 April 2011 requesting a report on my Department's proposed overall capital investment programme for the period 2012-2016, to facilitate the preparation of the revised framework.

My Department made a submission to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform setting out a range of scenarios for expenditure depending on the levels of funding available. The number of pupil places required was determined by the Forward Planning Section whose primary function is to anticipate and plan for school accommodation provision thereby ensuring that there are sufficient pupil places available in first and second level schools throughout the State. The Department is using a Geographical Information System (GIS) for this purpose. The GIS utilises data from the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the General Registers Office, the Department of Social Protection and Local Authorities, in addition to the Department's own databases. The most recent forecasts indicate that the overall level of primary enrolments will increase from the current enrolment of circa 509,652 pupils to a total of circa 554,700 pupils by 2018 and that at post-primary level enrolment numbers will rise from approximately 317,432 pupils in 2010/11 to approximately 343,900 pupils by 2018 depending on which migration and fertility rates prevail within that period.

I announced on 27 June last that 20 new primary schools and 20 new post primary schools are to be established in the next six years and indicated the general areas in which these schools are to be established. As well as these new schools, places will be provided either through large scale extensions or through the delivery of extra classrooms under the additional accommodation scheme. These developments are based on the detailed projections in individual areas and the capacity of the existing school stock for expansion.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published its report on Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-2016 on 10 November 2011. The investment includes an allocation for education capital of just over €2.2bn over the five years of the plan. I intend to publish details of the school building programme for 2012 next month and early next year I intend to publish a five year plan outlining the projects to be constructed over that period.