Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

It is a day when our schools are in mourning over the young lives lost in the awful tragedy in County Meath. Members will express their sympathy and have points to make on the safety of children on school transport.

I want to draw the Taoiseach's attention to another aspect of student welfare, which is the urgent and extensive investment needed immediately for physical fitness facilities in schools, in the form of gyms and sports halls. Everybody was taken aback in recent days when it was announced that many principals throughout the State have a "no running" policy in school playgrounds. The Taoiseach described the ban as shocking, but the reality is that teachers have explained that it is the lack of space and facilities that is the real cause. If insurance was a consideration, that should certainly be put off side. However, it is the former point that is mostly responsible, in primary and secondary schools.

Against the fact that the national task force on obesity said every school-going child should have at least 30 minutes a day, or two hours a week of physical fitness exercise, is it not crazy that parents and teachers in many parts of the State have to spend endless hours, days, weeks and years lobbying the Department of Education and Science for investment in sports halls and gyms? In view of what has emerged in the last week, and the report, will the Taoiseach now say the Government will immediately ring fence investment for physical education infrastructure in schools? If he does not do that, is not the whole health strategy as regards obesity a fiction?

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