Mr. Hubert Loftus:

I thank the Deputy for his question. The Department very much values PE halls and, equally, general purpose, GP, rooms at primary level. We see the role they play in the school itself and in the wider community and in supporting community life as important.

From the Department's policy perspective, we provide PE halls as part of new school builds but we also provide them as part of large-scale refurbishment and extension projects. The school to which the Deputy referred would not have been in either of those direct categories.

Since 2020, we have delivered or are in the course of delivering 54 PE halls across the country between projects completed, at construction and earmarked to go to construction, which we recently announced in April. In terms of GP rooms, there are approximately 100 that are at construction and that have been completed over recent years and going forward over the next year and into 2025. We are, therefore, doing a huge amount of delivery in that area. It is very important. The additional accommodation scheme is focused very much on core classroom accommodation. Certainly, from a PE hall perspective, it is important to recognise in terms of our database on information that the vast bulk of post-primary schools have GP room and PE hall facilities and there is a small cohort to pick up. We are picking up that cohort as part of our school building programme. Certainly, we see that as important going forward. However, there is a lot of delivery being done currently as well.