School building fund and education capital slashed by 33%

SPENDING on school buildings and other education capital is being slashed by one-third over the next four years — down to less than €500 million a year.

The Department of Education is already under pressure to spend its €712m capital budget for this year, with only €465m of its €578m allocation for schools spent to date. The €492m set aside for next year is the first tranche of a €1.9 billion capital budget up to 2014 and compares to a €2.9bn allocation in the past four years.

But Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said the funding would allow her department meet the building needs to match rising pupil numbers as well as improvements to existing schools, thanks to falling land values and tender prices.