Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2015
993. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Education and Skills given the increasing enrolment in primary schools annually, if she will provide an update on the projections, in terms of attendance and school buildings, her Department has made for each of the next five years; the costings that are attached to these projections in terms of buildings; teachers; and resources; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38163/15]
View answerMy Department's latest published projections of primary pupil enrolment indicate a pupil increase of the order of some 29,000 pupils between 2014/15 and 2018/19. These projections are published on my Department's website. My Department is currently reviewing the latest nationwide demographic data to assess where further additional provision may be required at primary level.
As the Deputy may be aware, earlier indicative figures of the cost of providing for demographics were set out in an analytical paper compiled by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service and published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in the context of Budget 2013. The link to this paper is at the following address: http://igees.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Final-Budget-Expenditure-Report-Educational-Expenditure.pdf. I understand that an updated version of this paper will shortly be completed by that Department.
This paper calculated the impact of demographics in terms of teacher numbers in schools and of the cost of capitation grant payments. It estimated additional costs in this regard of some €207 million arising between 2016 and 2021. In addition to these costs, there would also be impacts on other areas such as special needs expenditure, school transport and student grants. Demographic pressures will also create pressures on school accommodation and consequent pressure for capital investment. Much, however, will depend in this regard on the location and distribution of the additional pupil numbers.
In November 2011 under the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Framework a total over €2.2 billion was allocated to the Education sector of which over €2 billion was assigned to the schools sector (Primary and Post-Primary). In addition to large scale projects, this allocation also provided for permanent classrooms under the devolved Additional Accommodation and Prefab Replacement Schemes where smaller sized projects are capable of addressing increased enrolment numbers.
Significant capital funding will be invested in the education system through the Government's €27bn capital programme announced on 29 September last. Over the next six years some €3.8bn in direct funding will be invested in education projects. An additional €200m in PPP funding over the lifetime of the capital programme will result in more than €4bn in public investment. It is planned to announce the large-scale projects to be advanced over the period 2016 to 2021 shortly.
