Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 February 2019
107. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Education and Skills the capital allocation in capital services within his Department for 2019 by specific project; the projects that will be commenced and completed in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6023/19]
View answerMy Department has a capital allocation of €941m in 2019 and it is planned to expend the allocation as follows:
Schools Sector - €672m
Higher Education Sector - €137.6m
Further Education Sector - €13m
Public Private Partnership Costs - €110m
Other - €8.4m
The School Sector allocation will be expended primarily on the delivery of large scale projects that commenced on site in 2018 or earlier and remain under construction in 2019 and for large scale projects that are positioned to commence construction in 2019. Almost €450m will be expended on the delivery of large scale projects and on the Additional Accommodation Scheme.
Under the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020, €210m has been committed in funding for schools ICT Infrastructure. In 2019 (for the 2018-2019 school year), €50m will issue in grant funding to all recognised eligible primary and post-primary schools.
The remaining balance available to the School Sector in 2019 will be expended on site acquisitions, the Summer Works Scheme, the Emergency Works Scheme, furniture and equipment provision and other smaller programmes.
The allocation available to the Higher Education Sector in 2019 is significantly higher than in recent years and will allow a number of priority infrastructure projects to progress, including for example, a new Engineering, Environment and Emerging Technologies (E3) Institute in TCD. The allocation includes a sum of €47.6m to support the development of research capabilities across the broad range of disciplines in third level institutions.
A capital allocation of €13m is available for the Further Education Sector and this signals the commencement of significant investment in the sector.
The allocation available for Public Private Partnership Costs will be expended primarily on unitary charges associated with the School Bundles delivered to date and on the Cork School of Music and the National Maritime College of Ireland.
The remaining €8.4m will be expended on Public Sector Reform; on the Department's capital requirements associated with capital services include the provision of necessary office equipment and IT services and on the provision of a special memorial for abuse victims.
