merrion street

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn today welcomed the €280 million of investment in the Education sector, announced as part of the Government’s economic Stimulus Package.

The education sector is to benefit in two main ways: the planned consolidation of the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) at the Grangegorman campus is to progress and two new public private partnerships (PPPs) school bundles will be rolled out, consisting of a total of 12 schools.

Minister Quinn said,

The Government’s commitment to providing additional funding for the DIT higher education campus will allow commencement of the enabling works at the Grangegorman site next year – a prelude to the start of the roll out the PPP element of the project at the site.

This demonstrates the determination of the Government to effectively tackle the needs of the DIT, currently the largest provider of higher education in the State. This is also very good news for the Grangegorman area and its residents as this major project will assist greatly in rejuvenating a large part of the inner city. Jobs will be created and, as the campus is developed, we expect other businesses and services to be attracted to the area.

Some €180 million of the Government’s estimated €2.25 billion stimulus package announced today will go towards the Grangegorman project. DIT is currently located in 39 sites across the capital, some of which are in poor condition. The plan for Grangegorman is to combine these sites into one single world class educational facility. Stage 1 of the consolidation process will be progressed in Phase 1 of this stimulus package.

The other major part of the education sector package announced today is the roll out of two further bundles of school projects to be delivered through PPPs worth a total of €100 million.

Minister Quinn said,

The progressing of PPPs for the twelve schools involved in today’s announcement will be a significant boost to the construction industry. Despite our economic difficulties, the need to build new schools and replace inadequate accommodation remains, and through the use of PPPs and today’s stimulus package we can continue to deliver for our growing school going population.