Money may build 50 primary schools
However, the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) wants to meet urgently with Mr Dempsey to clarify the amount of building work that will be done with the 190 million announced yesterday.
Building work for just 12 new schools, at a cost of over 11m, was approved out of this year’s 167m first level building programme. The rest of the money went into refurbishment, prefabs and emergency repairs The Government has set aside an extra 23m for primary buildings in 2004, but Mr Dempsey believes there will be substantially more schools built. “Much of the money in this year’s building budget was already committed to projects which have since been completed, and I would expect to have up to another 27m for new schools to start work next year,” he said.
INTO general secretary John Carr said the increase was not enough to end the scandal of thousands of primary school pupils attending schools in damp, cold and dangerous buildings.
“The Government needs to increase its commitment to the health and safety of children and their educational wellbeing,” said INTO general secretary John Carr.
The union executive deferred a decision to ballot staff at 30 sub-standard schools on a one-day strike to protest at lack of progress, but may review the issue after a meeting with Mr Dempsey.
The minister said he will not know exactly what schools will be funded until the 2004 building programme is published early next year. But he hopes to hear from Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy in the next few weeks how much can be spent on school buildings in the next five years.
The increase in primary building projects is being offset by a huge cut to the third-level capital budget, from 113m to just 61m. The Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU) said the cuts, come in spite of the Programme for Government commitment to support the physical renewal of third level campuses.
“Try convincing prospective investors in the country that graduates produced are top class, when some universities are continuing to train science students in dilapidated labs on equipment that’s over 30 years old,” said CHIU chairman, Dr Seamus Smyth.
