Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Minister for his reply. He has not answered in full the question I asked, but he gave the reply his Department prepared for him. Will he not agree that for mature primary schools with all eight classes that have a proven need for accommodation — not start-up schools where there is a lead-in time as children move up classes starting with junior infants — the present policy of hiring prefabs is nonsense? It is a bit like having money on deposit in the post office and going to a moneylender to get cash. In one school, the details of which were submitted with the question, the annual cost of the rental, which is dead money, would finance a loan of €5 million over 30 years, which would provide for the construction of a solid building. I invite the Minister, if he is not yet at that stage, to enter into a serious dialogue with the Department of Finance on this issue. Considering the current financing policy, none of the officials in the Department of Education and Science would pass a junior or leaving certificate business organisation or economics examination if they were to sit it on the basis of their behaviour.

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