Mr. Sam Fitzsimmons:

I have figures from the Northern Ireland Department of Education. It is a crude measurement but it is the only one we have, and it is the number of free school meal entitlements. In integrated primary schools, the level is approximately 27.7%, whereas in non-integrated schools, that figure is 29%. At post-primary schools and not including non-selective schools, the level of free school meals for integrated schools is 38%, whereas in non-integrated schools, the level is 39%. The perception that integrated schools are very much for the middle class is not reflected in the free school meals numbers. Unlike many non-selective schools in the North, we have integrated schools where the free school meals level is as high as 75% in some areas. The perception is not correct.

The Deputy asked about the Strule campus at Omagh. It is a shared education campus, not an integrated campus. Five schools of different management types, Catholic-maintained and controlled, are relocating to one site. The Deputy is correct that it has not progressed and it has run into a number of issues with respect to procurement. There is also the question of getting agreement from schools as to what it will look like.

When there is no minister in Stormont driving a programme, will those years be lost where momentum could have been gained in driving integrated education. We all know the budget is under a particular control. Are the civil servants that currently administer the departments in a position to make decision if a school applies to change its status to being an integrated school? Do they have authority in the current administrative arrangement to make such decisions? There were very worthy proposals for major campus in Omagh