Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I share the Minister's attitude towards the increase in population. We all fully appreciate and are heartened by this positive development. The Minister must obtain a better return on taxpayers' money. A better system for delivering new schools is available. I am sure the Minister has available to him the prototype for delivery in regard to design. Many of the unnecessary costs and blockages have been removed from the system in recent years, which is a welcome development. There is no reason a 600 pupil primary school in north Dublin should not use the same design as a school in south Dublin, south Cork or any other major urban centre. I hope all unnecessary costs are minimised and the best possible return is achieved in the provision of additional classroom capacity.

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