With the highest birth rate in the European Union it's no surprise that Ireland needs a lot of classroom space to educate its children.
With this in mind, the Republic's education minister, Ruairi Quinn, has announced that 40 new schools are to be built over the next six years, at a cost of around €380 million.
Quinn said 20 primary and 20 secondary schools will be built to cater for the increasing number of pupils in the schools system.
The schools are being built to meet a surge in the birth rate, which is forecast to result in an additional 70,000 students at both primary and secondary school level in the next few years.
Of the 40 new schools, 17 will be in the Dublin area. A further 12 will be constructed in the greater Dublin commuter belt of counties Wicklow, Meath, Kildare and Louth.
There will be six schools in Cork, three in Galway and one each in Wexford and Cavan.
Announcing the building project, the minister said that his department "is forecasting an increase of over 45,050 primary pupils and 24,900 post-primary pupils by the start of the 2017/18 school year".
Mr. Quinn also announced that a number of existing schools will be extended.
The minister said the new process will create more choice for parents.
"Parental preferences should be at the heart of considerations about the type of school to be recognized," he said.
"The new arrangements will provide that patron bodies proposing schools at either primary or secondary level will be asked to provide evidence of demand."
