Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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104. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the breakdown of the €764,055,000 capital allocation in first, second and early years education within his Department for 2019, by specific project; the projects that will be commenced and completed in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6020/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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The capital allocation available to my Department in 2019 under First, Second and Early Years Education amounts to €764,055 and it is envisaged that it will be expended as follows:

Primary and Post-Primary Infrastructure - €622m

Public Private Partnership Costs - €84.055m

Miscellaneous Grants and Services - €54.9m

Special memorial for abuse victims - €0.5m

Administration - €2.6m

The Primary and Post-Primary Infrastructure allocation will be expended primarily on the delivery of large scale projects that commenced on site in 2018 or earlier and remain under construction in 2019 and for large scale projects that are positioned to commence construction in 2019. Almost €450m will be expended on the delivery of large scale projects and on the Additional Accommodation Scheme. Details of the large scale projects and the Additional Accommodation Scheme projects are available on my Department's website which is updated regularly.

The remaining balance available in 2019 will be expended on site acquisitions, the Summer Works Scheme, the Emergency Works Scheme, furniture and equipment provision and other smaller programmes.

The allocation available for Public Private Partnership Costs will be expended primarily on unitary charges associated with the School Bundles delivered to date, the VAT payment arising on the completion of Schools Bundle 5 and a significant extension project.

The Miscellaneous Grants and Services includes the roll out of the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020, for which €210m has been committed in funding for schools ICT Infrastructure. In 2019 (for the 2018-2019 school year), €50m will issue in grant funding to all recognised eligible primary and post-primary schools.

The balance of €4.9m is available for Public Sector Reform which will be employed for the Education and Training Sectors Shared Services projects, These projects will bring Payroll and Finance Shared Services to the Education and Training Boards (ETB) sector, serving the sixteen ETB's providing education at primary and secondary school levels and providing further education and training through SOLAS training programmes and community based schemes.

Non-pay administration costs associated with the delivery of the capital programme amounts to €2.6m

A sum of €0.5m is available for the design and installation of a memorial for the victims of abuse.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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105. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the breakdown of the €13,204,000 capital allocation in skills development within his Department for 2019 by specific project; the projects that will be commenced and completed in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6021/19]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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The 2019 capital allocation for skills development amounting to €13.204m is spread across three expenditure subheads of my Department:

1.B1 Administration (Non Pay) - €0.204 m€3 million has been provided for the capital expenditure element of the Departmental Administration Costs in the 2019 REV allocations. This money is allocated for Departmental IT capital costs across the departments' three Programmes; First, Second and Early Years Education, Skills Development and Higher Education.€0.204 million is included under the Skills Development Programme.

2.B3 Grants to SOLAS in respect of Administration and General Expenses - €0.500 mThe purpose of this provision is to meet the capital costs of the maintenance of SOLAS headquarters including the ICT infrastructure. An annual grant is paid to SOLAS. The distribution of the allocation is subsequently decided by the Board of SOLAS.The overall allocations for capital expenditure are determined as part of the Estimates process. Payments are made directly to SOLAS on a bi-monthly basis. Capital expenditure is focused on the maintenance / upgrading for health and safety or disability legislation requirements. The 2019 SOLAS Capital Allocation of €0.500m will be spent on necessary ICT equipment and any emergency building works that may arise during the year.

3.B5 Grants to SOLAS in respect of Further Education and Training Activities - €12.500 mAn additional €7 million over the 2018 allocation was provided for 2019 under this subhead to address issues with the condition of the existing capital stock, to roll out critical new apprenticeship syllabi and courses, and to consolidate the provision of further education and training in modern fit-for-purpose facilities that enable the delivery of high quality integrated programmes.

A detailed planning and bidding process is currently underway in SOLAS and will be finalised at the end of March 2019. The Education and Training Boards make their Capital bids through the SOLAS Funding Allocation Request system. These are reviewed through an internal due diligence process and allocations are put to the Board of SOLAS for approval.

It is anticipated that this allocation will fund the following in 2019:-

- Carry over from 2018 projects circa €2m

- Specific apprenticeship additional facilities circa €3m

- A strategic allocation (between €200k to €300k) to each ETB for replacement of equipment throughout 2019, totalling circa €4m.

- A bidding process for the balance of circa €3.5m.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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106. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the breakdown of the €163,741,000 capital allocation in higher education within his Department for 2019 by specific project; the projects that will be commenced and completed in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6022/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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Higher Education Capital Allocation 2019

The capital allocation available to the Higher Education Sector in 2019 is significantly higher than in recent years and will allow a number of priority infrastructure projects to progress, including, for example, a new Engineering, Energy and Environment Institute in TCD and the development of the LIT Coonagh Campus which will have a particular focus on engineering.

In the Higher Education Sector the allocation available for research has increased by €7m from last year and this will facilitate a greater number of research awards to be funded. The higher education allocation available under the PPP subhead will be expended primarily on unitary charges associated with the Cork School of Music and the National Maritime College of Ireland.

The Research Activities budget in 2019 is €47.6 million. This includes funding for the following which will be drawn down in 2019:

- Irish Research Council

- HEAnet

- Irish Centre for High-End Computing

The Third Level Infrastructure budget in 2019 is €90 million. This includes approved funding for the following projects which have commenced or will commence in 2019:

- EduCampus Financial Management and Student Record Systems – due to finish 2019

- Redevelopment of Royal Irish Academy of Music Westland Row

- Apprenticeship Equipment Grant

- HEANet

- Trinity College Engineering, Environment and Emerging Technologies Institute (E3)

- National Children’s Hospital higher education facilities

- IT Dundalk Refurbishment

- GMIT Castlebar Campus building fabric upgrades – due to finish 2019

- DCU St Patrick’s Campus F Block

- IT Limerick Coonagh engineering campus – due to finish 2019

The specific amount to be spent by the Department on each project in 2019 will depend on progress during the year and availability of funds; some projects are co-funded by the Department. Further projects will also come on stream for funding in 2019 as part of initiatives announced in 2018 under the NDP. These will be announced at a later stage.

The Higher Education Public Private Partnership budget for 2019 is €25.9 million. This includes funding for the following

- 3rdLevel Unitary Charge Payments

- Higher Education PPP Design Payments.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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107. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the capital allocation in capital services within his Department for 2019 by specific project; the projects that will be commenced and completed in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6023/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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My Department has a capital allocation of €941m in 2019 and it is planned to expend the allocation as follows:

Schools Sector - €672m

Higher Education Sector - €137.6m

Further Education Sector - €13m

Public Private Partnership Costs - €110m

Other - €8.4m

The School Sector allocation will be expended primarily on the delivery of large scale projects that commenced on site in 2018 or earlier and remain under construction in 2019 and for large scale projects that are positioned to commence construction in 2019. Almost €450m will be expended on the delivery of large scale projects and on the Additional Accommodation Scheme.

Under the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020, €210m has been committed in funding for schools ICT Infrastructure. In 2019 (for the 2018-2019 school year), €50m will issue in grant funding to all recognised eligible primary and post-primary schools.

The remaining balance available to the School Sector in 2019 will be expended on site acquisitions, the Summer Works Scheme, the Emergency Works Scheme, furniture and equipment provision and other smaller programmes.

The allocation available to the Higher Education Sector in 2019 is significantly higher than in recent years and will allow a number of priority infrastructure projects to progress, including for example, a new Engineering, Environment and Emerging Technologies (E3) Institute in TCD. The allocation includes a sum of €47.6m to support the development of research capabilities across the broad range of disciplines in third level institutions.

A capital allocation of €13m is available for the Further Education Sector and this signals the commencement of significant investment in the sector.

The allocation available for Public Private Partnership Costs will be expended primarily on unitary charges associated with the School Bundles delivered to date and on the Cork School of Music and the National Maritime College of Ireland.

The remaining €8.4m will be expended on Public Sector Reform; on the Department's capital requirements associated with capital services include the provision of necessary office equipment and IT services and on the provision of a special memorial for abuse victims.