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Minister Quinn welcomes start of construction of eight schools being delivered under Public Private Partnership
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn today warmly welcomed the start of construction of eight schools which are being delivered under the Public Private Partnership model. These are the first public sector projects to be funded under the PPP model since June 2010.
The schools in counties Westmeath, Leitrim, Limerick, Galway, Donegal, Wexford and Waterford are the third bundle of schools to be built under the Department of Education and Skills school PPP programme. They are part of the five year school building programme already announced by Minister Quinn earlier this year.
A loan of €50 million has been secured through the European Investment Bank (EIB) which has meant these new schools can now proceed to construction. The total value of the construction costs is estimated to be approximately €100 million.
Minister Quinn said:
I am particularly pleased that the EIB has again decided to support the Department’s schools capital investment programme with a loan of €50 million which will assist in funding this investment. It is a further signal of the bank’s renewed confidence in the Irish State and our recovery programme.
President of the EIB, Werner Hoyer, said:
The landmark agreement to support construction of eight new schools marks the reopening of the PPP sector in Ireland. The European Investment Bank is committed to enabling education investment in Ireland. This project complements EIB support provided in July to build 550 new classrooms and backing to redevelop University College Dublin a year ago.