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

The response that I have received, which I presume is accurate, states that an extension of the arrangement at the Nagle community college was recently agreed with the school authority pending the delivery of alternative temporary accommodation, which is being arranged by the school's patron body. It therefore appears that the present situation is there is an extension of the arrangement at Nagle community college. It is not satisfactory that the process takes such a long time but there appear to have been planning difficulties. However, I am unaware of the backdrop to those difficulties or why they delayed the obtaining of planning permission on the site. I will seek clarification for Deputies Ó Laoghaire and Michael McGrath in regard to the temporary accommodation in order to clarify for them how the arrangements will work.

Deputy McGrath raised the wider issue of the pace of school building programmes and the Department meeting targets in that regard. Each year, the Department increases the number of places provided for. This year, the Department will provide 22,000. We must ensure, however, that we are in a position to spend every penny we get. There are a large number of major projects proceeding at all times. Some get held up. At any point in the supply chain we must ensure that we spend every penny made available to me in this regard. Having a continuous supply of projects that are shovel-ready is very important to ensure that the available capital budget in this area is fully exploited.

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