Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

As regards PE as a subject for the junior certificate, it is expected that it will be integrated into the curriculum. I am conscious of not overloading the curriculum even further with another exam subject. It might have to be looked at in the overall reform context. I confess I am increasingly conscious of schools that are looking for PE halls on the basis that other schools in a town have them. That has happened at least twice recently. I wonder whether we will ever arrive at a situation where school management will actually share facilities and talk to each other. This is what Deputy Gogarty has asked me about in respect of primary schools. It is working to some degree in primary schools because the local community has greater ownership, particularly in the case of the rural schools, as referred to by the Deputy. However, it is not happening to the degree I would like at second level, particularly when we are providing state-of-the-art PE facilities.

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