Some €20 million will be taken from third level capital projects and added to the school building programme bringing investment available under the scheme to €343 million for 2003.
The extra funding will be allocated to the Primary Building Programme which had suffered a 10 per cent reduction in funding under the spending estimates.
However, the total funding available to the area will still be some €4 million less than in 2002.
Some 149 large-scale school building projects will be funded this year while more than 430 schools will be given grants towards smaller projects.
However, this is in the context of some 3,300 primary schools alone, some of which have been found to be rat-infested, damp and dilapidated.
The Minister for Education, who has inherited an accommodation crisis in Irish schools, said 20 primary schools will now start modernisation projects on a devolved basis at a cost of €5 million.
"Since becoming Minister for Education and Science, I have indicated that I want to ensure that the School Building Programme is open and transparent. I want to dispel the notion that lobbying or canvassing might give anyone an unfair advantage.
"The publication of the programme today honours that commitment. In addition, I am publishing for the first time the criteria used by the Department to prioritise projects," said the Minister.
Details of the list of projects are to be published in the Department of Education and Science.