Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I agree with the Taoiseach's comments but I am not sure it is happening in practice. While we are swapping anecdotes, one community in Meath told me that the site for the school is designated and, after it is rezoned, the Department must buy it back at the rezoned value. If that type of thing happens, it is extraordinary. I agree with the Taoiseach's comments about the experience of the western towns.

I was in Sallins recently where people told me there is a big problem with the primary school and that their three and four year old children cannot be enrolled in secondary school. Is it not the case that there is no secondary school available? Naas CBS cannot take them so parents are presented with private education in Newbridge as the only prospect. As Deputy Kenny said, there is an amazing deficit in facilities in this area of developmental explosion of recent years. Is a significant number of projects contemplated as a result of ironing out the difficulties with public private partnerships? The Committee of Public Accounts heard some time ago that such moneys as had been made available from the pension reserve fund for infrastructure projects had not been called on and no projects have been brought forward despite the manifest requirement.

Deputy Kenny dealt with another matter. The report from the Institution of Engineers of Ireland is far more critical than one would divine from the Taoiseach's response. Did the experts who compiled that report suggest we are not within a mile of hitting the national development plan target because we are so far behind today?

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