Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is some 15 years since the devolved grant was brought into policy and I can see the fruits of that within my own county. However, I have not heard much about it recently and I wonder whether it is still being used to the same extent. It certainly seemed to be a very good use of money.

I am conscious that subhead D3 also provides for grants towards rental of temporary school premises, and I presume this means prefabs. It was stated policy a short few years ago to get rid of all temporary accommodation, particularly prefabs, because the amount of money that has been expended on prefabs in the past 20 years is exorbitant. It would seem that, with better forward planning, we should be in a position not to have those temporary buildings. I will not say they are a waste of money because it is important students have an adequate place in which to be educated, but at the same time, it would seem not to be the appropriate way of allocating resources.