Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 November 2011
122 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which school place requirements at primary, secondary and third level have been noted in each of the past five years to date; the extent to which provision can be made and targets met in respect of such requirements over the next five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35147/11]
Amharc ar fhreagraTotal enrolment in both primary and post-primary schools is expected to grow by almost 70,000 between now and 2018 — over 45,000 at primary level and 25,000 at post primary — and will continue to grow up to at least 2024 at post-primary. This projected growth in enrolments reflects the increases in enrolment at both levels in the past five years and also the continuing very high level of births. The necessity to ensure sufficient school places arising from increasing demographics and involving both new school buildings and extensions, will continue to be the priority for schools capital expenditure.
In relation to Higher Education, the growth in student numbers is monitored on a continuous basis. In this regard, the Higher Education Authority is examining all issues relating to the funding of higher education having regard to continuous growth and budgetary constraints. The planned outcome of this work is to facilitate Government decisions that support realistic and sustainable levels of growth in student numbers despite the difficult economic conditions.
The Government's Medium Term Capital Investment Framework which was published last week includes an allocation for education capital of just over €2.2 bn over the five years of the plan — an average annual allocation of just over €440 m. This investment for the next five years will provide over 100,000 permanent school places of which over 80,000 will be additional school places. This substantial investment will result in over 11% of the total school population benefiting from new permanent places delivered during the period 2012 to 2016.
In addition, this will also enable higher education projects such as the UCD Science Library, NUI Maynooth's library project, the University of Limerick Medical school to be completed.
