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Education Minister, Ruairí Quinn, today announced details of 219 new major school building projects which will begin over the next five years as part of a €2 billion capital investment programme. These new projects are in addition to 56 major school building projects that have already been announced for 2012.

Announcing the programme, Minister Quinn said:

This investment in major school building projects will create an estimated 15,000 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs over the period of the programme. A total of €1500 million will be spent on these 275 projects. This is very welcome news for the construction industry.

The Minister said that this will facilitate schools' plans to meet local demand for places and will provide greater transparency in the operation of the school building programme.

Our programme unveiled today means that schools and parents will be able to plan much better for their children’s education at a time when enrolments at both primary and second level are rising dramatically.

The plan will provide over 100,000 permanent school places, of which over 80,000 will be new school places. The remainder will be the replacement of temporary or unsatisfactory accommodation.

The five year plan also includes alternative methods of delivering projects. Agencies like the Office of Public Works, the Vocational Education Committees and the National Development Finance Agency are all assisting with the delivery of over 80 major school projects.

Minister Quinn said:

This example of co-operation means that projects will be accelerated and co-ordinated. This shows joined up thinking between Government Departments and Agencies in order to maximise the number of projects we deliver with best value for money for the tax-payer.

This is the first time that the Department of Education and Skills has published a five year plan for school buildings.