Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Kenny raised a number of questions about the programme for Government. He asked about specific issues and the status of policies in the programme. He sought a commitment that we were not going to axe school-building next year. There is a rule in the House that specific questions are referred to the relevant line Ministers. However, I have no problem in dealing with the questions to the best of my ability, as I always seek to accommodate the Deputy with the facts.

The facts concerning this matter are that the capital programme for all three levels of education last year was €859 million. This year it works out at about €841 million. When one takes into account that tender prices have dropped by 20%, the output in 2009 for the money that is being allocated will be greater than the output obtained for €859 million last year. There was a premise in the question which suggested that there was a cutback in our school building programme this year, which is not correct when one looks at the output itself. What is not being taken into account in the contention made by Deputy Kenny is that tender prices are reduced by 20% this year compared to last year. That being the case, I was refuting the contention being made by the Deputy in his questions, first, that we were cutting back on school building and, second, in seeking a commitment from me that we would not axe it - in other words, that we would not eliminate school building from our capital programme next year. We have no intention of eliminating school building from our programme next year. Approximately €650 million has been spent this year on first and second levels.

The Deputy then went on to ask about temporary accommodation, which has been a feature of providing for school buildings. One of the policy objectives is to reduce the number of temporary buildings we have over a period. In fast developing areas we have thankfully seen the Department's ability to cope by way of modular buildings which are more easily and quickly constructed. In that way it is possible to provide school classrooms under that arrangement within a 16-week period. That has been achieved in various locations, particularly in fast-developing areas around Dublin. It is true that we continue to have prefabricated buildings, but of the total number of classrooms the percentage is quite low. It is a continuing priority for successive Governments to deal with that matter, but there will always be cases for temporary accommodation because of increased enrolment over a shot period. Such accommodation, which can still be good and adequate, is provided pending a capital project being prepared for such schools for the purpose of extensions. That goes though the various phases, as the Deputy will know, since I recall that on one occasion he was a Minister of State at the Department of Education. I had the pleasure of going on many deputations to his office along with former Deputy Tom Enright. There may not have been a lot of success because there were not many resources around at the time.

See this speech in context