Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

There are a number of elements to that. On the capital side and physical space, approximately 90% of our secondary schools have PE halls and they are generally much bigger than the Chair outlined and allow for the adequate provision of PE and any other type of sports in the school. I appreciate that some of our smaller primary schools do not have PE halls. How we support them and provide that resource has to be done through the capital budget. The more money we have the more we can do there, and I am keen to try to progress that overall objective. The education plan I published recently has a clear number of actions towards the end of this year to expand and develop the 60 minutes per day target. We have given a clear commitment in the programme for Government to provide in schools that children have access to, or are engaged in physical activity for, 60 minutes per day. The reform and change to our curriculum at senior cycle is also key to that. We have the active flag that is being rolled out across schools. Despite the fact that many schools do not have large PE halls, the work they do in obtaining the active flag spans many different areas.