Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Deputy's congratulations to the Department. Some of the new schools are extraordinary quality environments for learning and it is great to be in a position to fund them. I presume the architectural design of the schools is well advanced and it may be too late to pass on the Deputy's suggestion that they should be open to new expansion. Nevertheless, I will alert the building unit to the Deputy's concern. I assure him that we are very committed to maintaining the momentum behind this. We secured some additional funding in this and last years' budgets which recognises the pressures there are in areas like Portlaoise. We are determined to meet those.

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