Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Minister for the clarity of his reply. He must have a new answer writer in the Department. This is in no way an attempt by the Labour Party or I to further punish the religious orders. On the contrary, we are all indebted to them because of the contribution they have made to education. However, my fear is that the congregations will be obliged to provide 24 hour seven day nursing care for a now ageing and declining community, the members of which do not have children of their own who could support them, and that they will be forced or obliged to sell school properties to finance this obligation. Will the Minister approach the religious orders and suggest that the State or the community could pick up that cost, however it is to be financed? However, at a time of rising school population we do not wish to see the closure and sale of school buildings, albeit into a declining market. That is the motivation. Does the Minister not agree that both he and public representatives have legal ownership of only 3% of the primary school infrastructure? This means we have no control over the decision of a patron to decide unilaterally to sell a property. The likelihood of that now is less than it would have been three or four years ago, but it occurred three times in my constituency. Will the Minister revisit the position and enter into discussions with the existing owners in control of 97% of the infrastructure to draw some commitments or guarantees? I do not wish for any of these schools to be sold. I hope they continue to operate as schools under the existing patronage arrangements, which are more than satisfactory. However, the fear is that if the costs increase further and we have no control over the schools, the owners may sell them and the Minister would be powerless to stop this from occurring.

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