Launch of the 2016-2021 School Building Programme

I am delighted to be in Scoil Bhride Boys National School to launch the six-year school building programme.

310 school communities across every county of Ireland will receive investment. This includes:

· 154 New school buildings and major extensions at primary level;

· 126 New school buildings and major extensions at post-primary level; and

· 30 New special school buildings and extensions

Children and young people all across our nation will benefit from the new school places and facilities that this plan will deliver.

While I know that many of you are too young to feel the impact of recession, your parents and maybe older brothers and sisters have had experience.

It’s so vitally important that we secure Ireland’s recovery for them now and that we plan ahead to ensure that there are good jobs available for you when you graduate in a few more years.

This Programme means that over 5,000 people will be kept in full employment for the next six years.

This is in addition to some positive news today from the Central Statistics Office as they announced the unemployment rate has fallen to 8.9% for October 2015, the first time it has been at this level since late 2008.

Although the number of people unemployed has fallen below 200,000 for the first time since we entered office, this is still far too many people.

This is why we want to get unemployment down to 6% by 2020 – and these 5,000 jobs are an essential part of that plan.

The school building projects, by virtue of being needed in every county of Ireland, will ensure that this employment is also spread throughout Ireland.

As Ireland’s economy recovers, Fine Gael and Labour are ensuring that our investments are made wisely. The projects committed to in this plan are reliant on the choices that this Government and the next make to continue the recovery.

Conclusion
Education is the engine room of our recovery. And the government knows that if we plan to make Ireland a global leader it all starts in your classroom.

I hope that one day one of you might be the principal of this school, or the Minister for Education, or indeed the Taoiseach.

I wish for you all to reach your best potential.

And to do that, it is important to be able to learn and study hard at school, and for our part today we want to ensure you are educated in brand-new, state-of-the-art facilities which open up more opportunities for you.

This is a good day for this school and schools throughout Ireland.