Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I accept the figures that have been announced for approval but, in terms of the number actually progressing, the pace of delivery once a project has been announced is quite slow. Is the Minister satisfied that when projects are announced the technicians arrive on site in time, which is another issue on which I have received several complaints?

Will the Minister outline how much prefabricated accommodation has cost in the past year and the expected lifetime of a prefab? I had occasion to visit a school recently where the prefabs arrived the same year I was born and are still being used — that is a significant period. In the same school, a bicycle shed was converted to a classroom decades ago and is still in use. That school is still awaiting word of approval from the Department.

On 25 October the Minister claimed on "Morning Ireland" that the problem in Laytown had been sorted out in two weeks. Five months on, will she clarify the position in regard to the school in Laytown, where I understand planning permission had been sought on a site the Department did not own or had not signed contracts for ownership of? Is this the responsibility of the Department or the Office of Public Works?

What number of new classrooms will be provided specifically to deal with the reduction in class size which is promised from September? Why the lack of transparency with regard to the building programme? Will the Minister allow the position to return to one where schools could see in what position they were on the Department's website?

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