School building projects on hold
Deputy Guirke said 58 school building projects were stalled because of capital funding pressures and demanded clarity, including for his constituency. The Taoiseach said construction costs had risen, the Department had done well overall, and the issue would be sorted in a few weeks.
I look after myself.
I received worrying news this morning about capital funding pressures in the Department of Education and about its work programme and priorities for 2023 and beyond. I have been informed that 58 school building projects are now on hold due to capital funding pressures. We need a list of the 58 schools on that list and how long the projects will be on hold. These include projects in my constituency of Meath West, including Enfield Community College. At a time when we have capacity pressures across the school system, this news is entirely unacceptable. The news also raises further concerns. If there are capital funding pressures in the Department of Education, in which other Departments are there also funding pressures? This is serious in the context of the national development plan. Will the Taoiseach give me an update today? I suggest the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform should come before the House in the next weeks to discuss this serious matter.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. It also affects schools in my constituency, as the Deputy can imagine. The Department of Education has been doing a stellar job when it comes to its capital budget. New schools and extensions are being built all over the country. What has happened is that in many ways it has been doing such a good job that it is now ahead of profile on spending its capital budgets. As the Deputy will be aware, the cost of construction has also gone up and as a result a number of school projects, as the Deputy said, have been stalled.
We will sort this out. It will take us a couple of weeks to sit down with the Department and a few other Departments that are in a similar boat. It is something we intend to have resolved, certainly before Easter. This may involve some additional capital to make sure some of the shovel-ready projects with planning permission can go ahead or the reallocation of capital across Departments. We are working on this and we will have a solution by Easter. I want people to know these schools will get the go-ahead.