A £10 million building programme to develop and upgrade education centres was announced by the Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, yesterday.
The programme will provide 21 full-time and nine part-time centres, with an annual budget of £2 million.
"Some 40,000 teachers will benefit from this through improved access to professional development programmes. Parents and boards of management will also have increased access and support from the network," the Minister said.
Education centres, previously called teachers' centres, were established in 1972. They are increasingly involved in national programmes and the co-ordination of programmes such as transit ion year, relationships and sexuality counselling. Trainers are recruited from among teachers.
Ms Breathnach said that when all the centres were established and linked to the existing network, they would provide a "vibrant and exciting support" for every teacher and school.
Activities within a centre have ranged from developing a school plan for music to computer courses.
The Minister said the title "education centre", as outlined in the White Paper on Education, reflected the partnership approach, ensuring that all those involved in the school community - school management, teachers, parents and students - could participate in the design of education.
At present there are nine full-time centres at Drumcondra, Blackrock, west Dublin, Portlaoise, Limerick, Waterford, Cork, Tralee and Carrick-on-Shannon. Full-time centres will be opened at Athlone, Donegal, Galway and Trinity College Dublin.
Phase two, planned for March 1997, will provide additional centres at Castlebar, Ennis, Enniscorthy, Monaghan, Navan, Kildare, Kilkenny and Sligo. Part-time centres will continue to operate at Bandon, Cavan, Connemara, Dundalk, Dingle, Gort a'Choirce, Tarbert, Thurles and Tuam.