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

I am surprised at the Deputy giving out about evidence-based policy making when she did that also when she was in her Department. She set up a review before she made policy decisions and committed public money. That is the way I approach this issue, and it is the right way to approach it. We have very senior officials working on it, including the Assistant Secretary from the Department of Youth and Children Affairs, Bernie McNally, and my own Assistant Secretary, Gary Ó Donnchadha. This is a purposeful review looking at the level of demand, the potential and the barriers that need to be overcome in terms of meeting concerns about governance and basic issues like key holding, who will take responsibility for closing up, insurance and so on. These are practical issues and we have to work through those with the schools, which ultimately will make their premises available. We can only facilitate that. We are taking the correct approach and in accordance with the programme for Government we will implement changes in this area to facilitate more schools making their properties available. I agree it is a good use of an asset created by the public to make it more widely available, but I find it surprising that the Deputy would consider it a waste of time to consult those who are at the coalface seeking to make this happen.

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