Education gets €75m boost but further cuts needed

A €75 million boost to the school building programme could help construction jobs but Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe will have to find almost equal cuts to other aspects of his capital budget.

The extra funding is in addition to €581m already announced for primary and second-level school projects in the 2009 budget in October.

It is likely to allow the minister to offer dozens more schools the chance to progress their refurbishments or new building works this year, on top of those already projected, and may also ease the pressure on communities which have experienced huge growth in pupil numbers in recent years.