Almost €70 million in funding for repairs to school buildings has been announced by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn.

Some €28 million is being made available over the coming weeks as a once-off payment to primary schools as part of a minor works grant scheme.

Another €40 million will be allocated under a summer works scheme in 2014. The summer works scheme had been suspended in recent years, due to the economic downturn.

The minor works grant will be paid to primary schools to allow them to undertake small scale repairs works without the need to interact with the Department.

Mr Quinn said he was happy to be able to fund the minor works scheme and added that he was particularly pleased “despite the funding constraints on my department’s capital budget” to re-introduce the summer works scheme in 2014.