O’Keeffe hints at cash boost for school buildings

A GROWTH in activity on school building projects could form part of the Government’s plans to boost employment in the construction sector, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe said yesterday.

He was allocated €580 million for the school building programme in the 2009 budget last October, down slightly on last year’s €586m fund, but is hopeful that this might rise as the Government focuses on investing in capital projects.

Mr O’Keeffe said the cabinet is trying to identify capital projects across all sectors of public spending that would be immediately labour intensive and is considering increasing investment in those areas.