Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

Following the previous question from Deputy Quinn about an inventory of prefabs, an issue on which he has campaigned over the past few months, can the Minister provide an inventory of applications received on this issue? It is astonishing that, while the Minister comes into this House knowing that she will be asked about this and knowing that the first supplementary question from Opposition spokespersons will be on the number of applications, she cannot give that basic information to the House. She manages one of the biggest Departments in the State and it is the most obvious question. Can she give me the information when she gets back to Marlborough Street?

I spoke last Friday to the National Parents Council in County Kildare. The condition of science laboratories is a big issue for parents. The basic core funding that the Department gives to schools is pathetic. Why has the Department failed to respond to a basic proposal from school management groups and science teachers? This would establish laboratory assistants in many schools, at least clusters, who would help science teachers to prepare experiments and laboratories and to get the best from the infrastructure that exists.

See this speech in context