€100m schools budget unspent

OUT-OF-WORK builders should be given the chance to advance some of the delayed school building projects which have left spending in education capital more than €100 million behind target, opposition TDs told Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe yesterday.

It emerged last week that the Department of Education spent just €456m of the €568m it had expected to spend by the end of September, out of a total 2009 capital budget of €841m.

The biggest underspends relate to major projects for primary and second-level schools, which Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe attributed to higher-than-expected savings on tender prices and delays in some projects because of new tendering procedures. He told the Dáil yesterday increased numbers of invoices and other claims for payments have been made in the final quarter of recent years.