Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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We have a forward planning unit within the Department and it is very successful. We now liaise with local authorities, for example, on their future projections. We also gather all the data that is necessary. It is a GIS system. We engage with child benefit and so on. As regards the figures we are talking about here, we have currently 350 projects on the ground at construction, and the funding is allowing us to do just that. In addition, for example, looking at the new-build, large-scale projects, there is a 70% increase in the number of large-scale builds this year as opposed to last year. As regards the additional school accommodation, with which everybody here will be familiar, there is a 35% increase between this year and last year. We really are powering ahead with additional school accommodation.

We have also made reference here to the very significant increase in provision for children with additional needs. As this Government comes to a close, we will have 15 new special schools brought onstream over its lifetime and we will have more than 3,300 special classes. We have doubled during the lifetime of this Government the provision of special classes. I am not by a long mile saying we have completed the work; an awful lot more work needs to be done here. We have, however, made significant progress, and funding, like the funding that is earmarked in the Supplementary Estimate, has facilitated us in doing just that.