The Government plans to invest more than €4 billion in capital spending via the Department of Education and Skills.
The bulk of this - €3.1 billion - will be used to upgrade primary and secondary school facilities, with more than €650 million going into the universities, institutes and other higher education facilities.
The investment will see an additional 70,000 primary school places in the run-up to 2016 in new and existing schools and a further 10,000 places in temporary accommodation in the primary sector, according to the capital investment plan. Investment in the secondary sector will open up 15,000 places in new schools.
The continued strong investment was being driven by the steady rise in pupil numbers, the plan says. Birth rates had been increasing since 1995. "The extent of this increase has already fed into demand for primary school places and is now manifest in numbers enrolling in second-level education. This trend is intensifying."
Projected primary school enrolments which were about 519,000 this year will rise to more than 570,000 by 2016. Secondary enrolments will increase from the current 162,000 to about 188,000 by 2016, according to the expenditure plan.
An additional €265 million will go into the provision of information and communications technology (ICT) for schools. Over the past few years funding had brought computers and broadband connections to the school system and this investment would continue, the plan stated.
While the goal would be to bring the student-computer ratio up to international norms, steps would also have to be taken to ensure "full use of existing capacity", according the plan.
Although the plan also anticipates a continued strong demand for higher education at third level, "there is only a limited case for continued exchequer funding of capital investment". Significant investment had been put in place over the past decade, and greater use of existing infrastructure should be considered. "More innovative ways of maximising existing capacity should be fully explored."
Even so the investment is expected to see an additional 8,600 student places provided in the higher education institutes and improved facilities for 25,600 students.
The investment in third level did not contain the contribution made by the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, a programme formerly overseen by the Department of Education and Skills. This funding programme was now administered by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Innovation, the document said.