Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

It is a chicken and egg situation. It behoves the Opposition in the limited time left in this debate to set out exactly the areas in which it would cut funding. Both Deputy O'Sullivan and the Minister have been actively engaged in dealing with the issue of school places in Limerick. No Deputy could condone schools cherry-picking students over and above other schools, which has resulted in some students in Limerick not being offered secondary school places in recent years. I welcome the initiative taken by the Minister to introduce an area development plan to examine the demographics and capacity figures for the next five to ten years to put in place the infrastructure that will prevent the situation in Limerick developing again. I commend the amendment to the House.

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