Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know from a previous parliamentary question on this matter that three issues were raised with the Department’s building unit in respect of WSE visits which I find remarkable. While the schools building work the Department is doing is welcome, there are cases in some classrooms where five children have to move to allow one to go to the toilet. The delivery of the curriculum has to be paramount but the physical infrastructure of a school is important to do so. Many schools built multi-purpose halls several years ago. However, as their enrolment numbers have increased, they have been told by the Department to convert these rooms into classrooms by partitioning them. This impacts on the delivery of the curriculum.

The one arm of the WSE does not know what the arm of curriculum development is doing. In the course of the past 18 months, three serious issues were detected in this regard. While I accept funding is a problem, in my part of County Limerick, which the Minister knows, I can identify three issues in my parish which need to be addressed.

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