THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT Bank has agreed to provide €100m in funding to the Irish Government over the next two years for a school buildings project.

35 primary and 12 secondary schools across the country will be constructed and upgraded, as the total enrolment of pupils increases by around 70,000 between now and 2018.

“The loan will prove immensely beneficial in enabling my Department to implement our five year school building programme in the most cost effective manner for the taxpayer” said the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D.

The schools targeted include 16 in Dublin, eight in Cork, three each in Limerick and Galway and two in Donegal. They include Educate Together schools in Carlow, Dublin and Waterford.

A full list is published below of the most likely beneficiaries of the scheme.

The EIB has committed to provide up to €500million euros per year  to Ireland.

However, the government hopes to double that, the Finance Minister Michael Noonan said today after a meeting with EIB President Werner Hoyer.

“At present they are committed to half a billion a year if you could get it flowing freely,” he said. “If we could double that it would have an impact on the infrastructure and make the economy more productive.”