Ms ?ine Cusack:

To pick up on the reference to the libraries and the PE halls, as Mr. Loftus would have said, our priority first and foremost is the additional capacity and the huge demands that are there. The Senator will have seen the significant investment that is going into towns like Newbridge, Kildare and elsewhere in providing school places and special classes. We will have a significant ramping-up at post-primary level of special classes over the next number of years as well. There are a number of significant draws on our capital funding. PE halls remain an ambition under the NDP, as Mr. Loftus has just outlined. Libraries are provided with all large-scale new school buildings and extensions, be it at primary or post-primary level, and there are opportunities in some of our primary schools that perhaps have vacant classrooms as demographics decline. Many schools repurpose the spaces for whatever needs they may wish to address within their own community.

In the context of primary schools feeding into post-primary schools, the Senator will be aware that post-primary schools set their admissions policies. It is within their remit to give priority to certain schools within the provisions of the legislation. What we do is work with the patrons in each area to make sure that overall, there are sufficient places available across all the schools to meet all the needs for the children in that wider area. We have been engaging with the likes of Scoil Bhríde in Milltown in the context of its special classes and we have had some really productive engagement with that school. Our view for that school and other schools is that we must ensure there are sufficient first year places across the schools in the area. The policies of those individual post-primary schools in terms of categories and prioritisation are, under the legislation, a matter for themselves but our role through co-ordination of patrons and schools is to ensure there is a place for every child. We will continue to engage patrons in that respect.