Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Since 2020, my Department has invested in the region of €4.5 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 800 school building projects with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects, which includes 31 new school buildings.

These 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of over €1.2bn.

There are also 90 projects currently at the tender stage including a further 28 new school buildings. All of these new school buildings are flagship projects in their area and transform the education infrastructure for those school communities.

This is a record level of investment in our schools and highlights the Government’s very strong track record of delivery in providing additional capacity and modern facilities for our school communities.

The key drivers of capital investment in the schools sector include:

• demographic growth, particularly at post primary level
• increased demand for special educational needs provision
• alignment of school place provision with new housing development
• climate action objectives including deep energy retrofit.

The table below details design team fees spend 2016 to date across the school capital building projects.

Year	Annual Expenditure in €m
2016	€16.42m
2017	€19.18m
2018	€20.07m
2019	€19.65m
2020	€18.33m
2021	€34.02m
2022	€31.61m
2023	€38.93m
2024	€12.63m
Total	€210.84m