Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 31 May 2000

Vol. 520 No. 2

Written Answers. - National Development Plan.

Willie Penrose

Question:

174 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Education and Science the new services or the extension of existing services contained in the national development plan, which are funded by his Department, which have commenced or will commence in County Westmeath in 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15447/00]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods):

The national development plan includes provision for the following:

Skills development, £1,360.48 million.Continued funding is provided for skills development through the post-graduate conversion courses, certificate and diploma courses, apprenticeship and tourism training in the technology sector and funding for the undergraduate skills fund.

Social inclusion, £441.3 million.This includes funding for early childhood education, early literacy initiative, adult literacy initiative, school completion initiative and the third level access fund. Funding is guaranteed at existing levels for the school guidance service, with provision for programme development, and Travellers education and refugees education support,

Lifelong learning, £1,085 million.The funding for the lifelong learning measures in the education sector provides for the back-to-education-initiative (including VTOS, Youthreach and post-leaving certificate courses). Further education supports, including guidance and counselling, and the modern languages initiative.

Quality improvement, £126 million.The above includes provision for the in-career development of primary and post-primary teachers, quality assurance in the third-level system, including training of trainers, the national qualifications system and certification.

Equal opportunities, £19.6 million.Provision is being made under the national development plan for three specific elements, the educational disadvantage measure, equal opportunities promotion and monitoring and the provision of child care support for participants in programmes within the education sector.

Youth services, £165.8 million.The above includes funding to facilitate the continuation of the existing range of youth work services under the aegis of this Department.

Research, technological, development and innovation, £550 million.This investment which builds on the current initiatives to improve R&D capability in the third-level institutions is the largest ever targeted investment in favour of R&D in education.

Education infrastructure, £1,600 million.This represents the largest ever multi-annual commitment to investment in the improvement of our education infrastructure at primary, post-primary and third level with significant front loading in the earlier years of the programme.

All mainstream programmes in the education sector are delivered on a national basis. Specific programmes with the aim of combating social exclusion, are targeted at areas of educational disadvantage, on the basis of priority of need, in accordance with established criteria, irrespective of urban-rural status. Apart from participating in programmes delivered in their county, the population of County Westmeath, may also access programmes delivered elsewhere.

Willie Penrose

Question:

175 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Education and Science the capital programmes contained in the national development plan and funded by his Department that have commenced or will commence in the Westmeath constituency in 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15469/00]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods):

The National Development Plan, 2000-2006, includes provision of £1.6 billion for capital expenditure in the education sector. This will cover investment in primary and post-primary schools, further education centres and third-level institutions, representing the largest ever multi-annual commitment to investment in the improvement of our education infrastructure. In addition, there is an overall provision of £550 million for a research, technological development and innovation fund in the education sector, which includes funding to promote the development of world-class research infrastructure and equipment in third-level institutions, thereby providing the foundation upon which research excellence can be developed.

The information requested by the Deputy with regard to capital projects is not available. The allocation of funding to capital projects by my Department depends on factors such as the rate of progress of architectural design, site acquisition, the granting of planning permission and the outcome of the tender process. Delays can arise at any stage of the process, consequently, it is not possible to say when projects being processed at present will proceed to construction. If the Deputy requires information on individual building projects, I will be happy to provide the details.