€491m plan for school building unveiled

EFFORTS to improve and modernise the country’s 4,000 schools will benefit from a €0.5 billion building package unveiled by Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday.

The minister said that more than 1,300 projects will be active in 2006. These include many moving to the next stages in the planning procedures, although building work might not begin.

Of 93 major primary school projects and 43 at second level on site this time last year, 101 have been completed.

The Department of Education said that almost 200 major building projects of either new schools, large extensions or major refurbishments will be at construction stage in 2006.

A further 153 primary schools, which have received devolved funding under a pilot initiative for small schools, will proceed to construction.

An extension of the scheme will involve funding for another 200 schools next year, allowing their projects proceed more quickly than others because the schools run the projects themselves.

The overall €491 million allocation is a 9% increase on this year’s funding, and includes €277m for projects at primary level and €204m for second level schools.

A further 10m will be invested to improve equipment for information and communications technology (ICT).

The summer works scheme (SWS), introduced two years ago to carry out repair works or technical upgrades on schools during summer holidays, has been allocated €65m.

Under the same scheme last year, work was carried out on 741 schools at a cost of €70.5m including €8.5m announced in June.

Ms Hanafin said all this year’s capital funding for the school building programme, including €50m carried over from 2004, will have been spent by year’s end.

Teacher unions welcomed the extra funding but stressed there is still a huge backlog of schools whose accommodation must be upgraded.

Irish National Teachers’ Organisation general secretary John Carr said there was no room for complacency as there were hundreds of schools involved.

“It is unacceptable that children have to go to school in damp and cold buildings where roofs are leaking and windows let in draughts. Nor is it right that growing numbers of pupils spend more and more time in prefabs,” he said.

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland general secretary John White said schools undertaking large SWS projects should be able to employ a project manager to assist them in finishing the work in time.

Teachers’ Union of Ireland president Paddy Healy questioned whether there would be increased building work after the rising costs of land purchase and planning expenses were considered.

He added that schools undertaking a larger project under the SWS should be able to employ a project manager or clerk of works to assist the school in finishing the project in time.