Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

What is the timescale in advancing the new project? Most people in the Lucan south area will be encouraged to hear the Minister's comment that the Department will finally take this issue seriously. In 1996 this community had a total population of 7,500; ten years later in 2006 there were 7,500 children under the age of 14 years. I am sure the Minister accepts this is an unbelievable expansion of the population in this ten-year period. Will she be more specific about the timeframe involved, given the crisis in terms of the latent demand? There is a huge cohort of young children in the area who are finding it difficult to get into primary school, let alone secondary school. This is a problem that needs to be addressed urgently.

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