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Jobs initiative will include €30 million for school projects

The projects for refurbishment and renovation of national and secondary schools will be funded by the department of education and the exchequer. The jobs initiative will be announced in full tomorrow.

THE GOVERNMENT’S MUCH-anticipated jobs initiative, to be announced tomorrow, will include €30 million for school building improvements and thus generate almost 3,000 mostly construction related jobs.

The so-called ‘shovel-ready’ refurbishment and renovation projects in at least 380 national and secondary schools will get under this year, reports the Irish Times.

This will form part of the jobs initiative – set to include other education and training programmes – which minister for finance Michael Noonan will announce in full in the Dáil tomorrow afternoon.

The funding for the schools work will be compromised of €20 million from the department of education and €10 million from the exchequer, RTÉ reports.

Details of what the jobs initiative will include have been emerging in recent weeks.

Last week Taoiseach Enda Kenny indicated that there would be a ‘finders fee’ of €3,000 that would be paid to anyone from the Irish diaspora who creates sustainable employment in Ireland.

It has also been reported that millions of euro will be invested in the repair of roads around the country that are “in a terrible mess,” according to minister for transport Leo Varadkar.

The aim is that the road repair works will provide local employment and will form part of the jobs initiative.

The funding of the initiative has also been the subject of much speculation with suggestions that it could be paid for via a levy on private pensions.

The opposition has accused the government of having “no idea” how many jobs the scheme will create.

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Hugh O'Connell
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