Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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During the course of discussions in the Committee on Education and Skills the importance of making PE a compulsory subject was discussed. We were told that it would cost more than €1 billion to provide the kind of facilities necessary to make it a compulsory subject. I feel that it would link in with what the witnesses are trying to achieve. Is there a model with which we could assess the cost of equipping existing schools, as opposed to new builds, across the country? Perhaps the witnesses do not know of such a model. I imagine it would apply to our older communities, rather than those schools built in the last five years or so. It would be interesting to be able to plan the fitting out of schools with the necessary facilities, and to know what kind of figures we are talking about. If home economics was to begin in primary schools what impact would it have in terms of the Department of Education and Skills and the school patrons being able to keep pace with it?