Education Minister announces €430m school building projects
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has announced that 56 large-scale school building projects will get underway next year.
The €430m spend will see 18 new primary schools, 12 primary school extensions, nine new secondary schools and extensions to nine more.
Minister Quinn said the projects will provide over 23,000 school places and that a total of €2bn will be invested in school building over the next five years.
“Total enrolment in both primary and post-primary schools is expected to grow by around 70,000 between now and 2018 – by over 45,000 at primary level and 25,000 at post primary," the Minister said.
"Enrolment will continue to rise at post-primary level to the year 2024 at least.
“We have to ensure that every child growing up in Ireland will have access to a physical school place.”
Details of the five-year plan will be published in the coming months, the Minister said.
He also announced a post primary school design competition to be organised by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI), which he said will "provide a real opportunity for innovative design in new second-level schools".
"It is vital that we consider new approaches to the design of new second-level schools given the curricular developments that are underway and the number of new schools to be built over the next 15 years," Minister Quinn said.
The successful team will design a new school in Kingswood, Tallaght, and manage its construction with a view to the school opening in late August 2017.
