John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)

Very little reference has been made to the capital programme, which I strongly consider to be equally important. I welcome the fact that it can be revisited now. We can build new schools and do the work that is needed under the summer works scheme. The devolved grant scheme, under which a departmental grant is given to schools that want to build two or three classrooms, is very important for rural schools. When schools are given a grant of €480,000 under a scheme, they can secure planning permission and employ a contractor without any red tape.

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