Since coming into office, the Government has continuously increased capital funding for educational infrastructure. Since 1997, and to the end of the current year, in excess of €2 billion will have been expended on primary and post-primary infrastructure alone. This clearly demonstrates the Government's unequivocal commitment to addressing our school infrastructural needs.
This year, my Department's school building programme of €388 million will deliver in excess of 260 significant school building projects at primary and post-primary levels. In excess of 200 of these projects will commence on site in the current year; the remaining projects commenced in previous years and are currently nearing completion. Furthermore, over 570 additional schools will benefit in some way from the capital programme directly by means of temporary accommodation, permanent accommodation and/or improvements works. All primary schools will benefit directly from the devolved grant scheme for minor works.
This programme of works involves in many instances the replacement with permanent structures of old prefabricated classrooms. While an extensive refurbishment or rebuild project is either progressing in the building programme or under consideration for inclusion it is sometimes necessary to meet the immediate needs of a school with temporary accommodation. In many instances this arises because of the significant numbers of extra teachers allocated to schools. Putting a high quality prefabricated classroom on site quickly is what enables the appointment of an additional teacher in many instances.
Major building projects cannot be delivered in a short period of time. A complex range of factors governs the life cycle of any potential building project from design through compliance with the planning process to construction. My Department sanctions the wide use of external consultants to expedite the design and delivery of the vast majority of projects. New ways such as the devolved building initiative for small rural schools, the permanent accommodation initiative and the summer works scheme show my Department's commitment to finding innovative and flexible solutions to the difficulties faced by schools seeking to refurbish their buildings or to provide additional accommodation quickly. There is minimal interaction with my Department and schools are fully empowered to drive the design and construction process. I fully expect that these initiatives will inform future policy.
The budget announcement regarding multi-annual capital envelopes will enable me to adopt a multi-annual framework for the school building programme which, in turn, will provide greater clarity regarding projects that are not progressing to tender in this year's programme. I will make a further announcement on this matter later this year.
