Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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252. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of providing additional classroom accommodation at primary and secondary schools to address increased demographics over the next five, ten, 15 and 20 years; the amount of this he will provide under the capital investment plan 2016 to 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15003/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The upward trend of previous years in numbers of learners at all levels of the education system will continue for the period 2015 to 2017 and beyond. Pupil numbers in primary schools are projected to increase by 25,000 between 2014/15 and 2017/18 to 569,000, eventually peaking in 2018/2019 at 574,000, while projections for second level are for an increase of 12,000 pupils over the same three year period to 350,000, with second level projections peaking in 2025/2026 at 405,000.

My Department reviews on an ongoing basis the latest nationwide demographic data available to assess where further additional provision may be required at primary and post-primary levels.

As the Deputy may be aware, earlier indicative figures of the cost of providing for demographics were set out in an analytical paper compiled by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service and published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in the context of Budget 2013. The link to this paper is at the following address:-

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This paper calculated the impact of demographics on school accommodation and consequent pressure for capital investment. Much, however, will depend in this regard on the location and distribution of the additional pupil numbers.

The announcement on 29 September 2015 of Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital investment 2016-2021 specifies an investment of €4 billion to the Education sector through direct Exchequer provision and the PPP programme. In excess of €3 billion of the investment is in respect of the schools sector.

Last November, a new programme of over 300 major school building projects for the period 2016 to 2021 was announced. Details are available on my Department's website. These projects, together with approvals under the devolved Additional Accommodation Scheme, are designed to meet the increases in pupil numbers that will arise in both the primary and post-primary school sectors.