John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

All of that has been taken on board. What I am really concerned about is the schools in non-priority areas that have waited from five to 20 years for development. The Minister met a delegation last week from my constituency. The Department has paid €74,000 this year for prefabs for the delegation's school, and has paid that for the past 15 years. The Minister must understand the position of these schools. They see that estimates or tenders are 30% less than previously, while they discovered a month ago that half the Department's allocation for school buildings has not been spent. The Minister says it will be spent by the end of the year; we will wait and see if that is so. Now these schools are being excluded from the priority areas. The Minister must give these non-priority areas some hope today.

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