Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I am not so sure the weather is so bad in Ireland that people cannot get out that much. We have just had the mildest winter in years. However, notwithstanding that, I have no immediate plans to make PE an exam subject. It is important that the degree of flexibility currently in place should be availed of, using the talents of the staff as well, while recognising that very many schools are involved in sport, quite apart from PE, whether it is Gaelic games, hockey, basketball or whatever. People give much of their time to such activities.

As regards PE halls, they are now being included as part and parcel of major extensions and in new schools. This is very important. We have had a programme for last year carrying on into 2005 of some PE halls being developed. These will be used as a model to determine how we can progress further. There is much demand from schools around the country. Primary schools that are simply looking for general purpose space would neither fit into band 1 or band 2 at present. We obviously have to meet the need for basic classroom accommodation and ancillary work that is required. However, under the devolved scheme we find that a number of schools have been imaginative in the manner in which they use the money, topped up perhaps with local fund-raising, so that these types of facility are being improved. Did the Deputy have another question?

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