Tánaiste and Minister for Education Mary Coughlan has said the number of school building projects begun this year is up 54% on last year.
Responding to the news that her department is behind in spending its capital budget this year for the second year in a row, Ms Coughlan in a statement said this week alone €24m had been announced for computers in schools.
She said this and the spending of money that had been held over from last year brought total capital spending so far to €450m.
She said for political parties to claim that there was something untoward going on was wide of the mark.
However, end of October expenditure figures sent from the Department of Education to the Department of Finance show a 21% gap between what Education had expected to have spent by now and what it has actually spent.
Out of an overall budget of €721m Department of Finance figures show Education has spent just €381m.
Earlier, the department said it was getting much better value with costs for some projects down by 40%. It said the reductions had also caused delays in tendering.
But Fine Gael and Labour dismissed this. They and teacher unions say if savings are being made then more schools should be built.
