€579m committed to school building

UP TO 52 schools out of more than 1,000 that have applied for building projects will receive funding to go to tender and construction this year, Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has said.

The Government will spend €579 million on the school-building programme this year, creating 23,500 places in 20 new schools and 32 extensions, Mr O’Keeffe said.

Of these, 25 projects have planning permission and will move to tender and construction shortly. Twenty-seven have not yet secured planning permission but have been authorised to prepare tender documentation and will go to tender and construction either later this year or early next year.

None of the projects listed for construction yesterday had been previously announced, Mr O’Keeffe said; but he conceded that some had been “on the books for quite a while”.

“We have about 1,000 applications in total, but I want to emphasise that the mere fact that they are doesn’t mean that they would merit a new school or indeed an extension, many of those schools would require refurbishment.”

There would be 30 per cent more construction activity this year than there was two years ago, he said.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) claims more than 1,250 schools have applied for major building works and described Mr O’Keeffe’s announcement as “limited”.

“It’s good news for the small number of schools making progress today but will do little to tackle the backlog,” incoming INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said.

More than half of the primary school building projects announced yesterday were on building lists published a decade ago by then minister for education Noel Dempsey, she said.

Mr O’Keeffe should explain why these schools were not built in the meantime, she said, while the remaining schools on the waiting list should be told when they will be built.

“All of these schools want information on where they are in the overall school-building programme. They can only know this accurately when they can see how many schools are in the queue.”

Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes questioned whether the 52 construction projects would ever reach completion.

“The 2009 school-building programme in total contained promises for 78 projects. However, by December only seven of these projects had actually been completed and 50 of the 78 were stuck in planning limbo.”

Last year was the worst on record for the construction of new school buildings, and not all of the money allocated for building projects was spent by the Minister, Mr Hayes said.

“Minister O’Keeffe had opportunities like no other minister for education to deliver more bang for his buck on the school-building programme and he has squandered it and there is a serious danger that today’s announcement will just continue this trend of no delivery.”

The list of 52 schools is available at the Department of Education’s website, www.education.ie.

Separately yesterday, Mr O’Keeffe approved seven new primary schools to open in September in rapidly developing areas: Ballbriggan, Co Dublin (County Dublin VEC); Swords, Co Dublin (Educate Together); Doughiska, Co Galway (Catholic Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora); Naas, Co Kildare (County Kildare VEC); Portlaoise, Co Laois (Educate Together); Drogheda, Co Louth (Catholic Archdiocese of Armagh); and Navan, Co Meath (Co Meath VEC.).