Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I take issue with councils which do not take seriously their responsibilities for the provision of extra facilities or schools, granting instead planning permission for large numbers of houses without regard for the knock-on effects on education provision.

From my Department's point of view, the area development plan enables us to look ten to 15 years into the future, while a number of the previously published plans have been very successful. For example, the adopted plan for Mountmellick and Mountrath proposed a new post-primary amalgamation which, as I have already announced, will be part of the next package and further plans have been published for the N4-M4 corridor and for Westport and Newport. Some of the areas mentioned by the Deputy are included in the plans being produced, such as north Dublin, south County Louth, east County Meath, north County Kerry and Limerick. These plans will reflect the needs of their respective areas.

I pay credit to Fingal County Council because it has been innovative in its approach to the intensive development taking place within its borders. Naturally, it is a hard bargainer but we are working closely with it and are about to agree to an arrangement of benefit to both of us for the provision of sites, the procurement and future use of sites and for the building of schools by the Department while also allowing for shared use of community facilities. Similar discussions are ongoing with local authorities in Kildare, Waterford, Meath and other areas.

Whereas the Department and I take full responsibility for educational planning, county and urban councils must have regard for the types of planning permissions they grant, the zoning they undertake and the obligations they put on developers. I do not understand why planning permission can be given for 50 houses without telling the builder to construct an additional classroom for the local school or, in the case of 150 houses, to require that a new school be built. If everybody shouldered their responsibilities, the problem of long-term education provision could be quickly solved.

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