Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The main issue the Deputy has raised is the physical structure of the school buildings. A new five-year capital programme will be announced in the middle of this year. In advance of that, I will be considering the condition of school buildings around the country. I want to secure the most funding I can for this capital programme. Despite the economic difficulties, the Deputy will acknowledge that over the past five years much progress has been made with school buildings such as the replacement of prefabs, etc. This was largely under my predecessor’s watch, and I have continued.

Inspectors have, albeit only in a small number of cases, referred issues specifically to the building unit in the Department. The inspectorate’s primary purpose is around the education, learning and teaching in schools, however. That has to be its primary focus.

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