Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

While I am aware that he ran out of time, he did not answer Deputy Gino Kenny's question regarding Charlotte Connolly. Given the life-threatening nature of her condition, she and her family deserve a response from the Government.

In terms of changes in the Department of the Taoiseach and sub-committees that will be established, under the previous Taoiseach there was no education sub-committee. Will the Taoiseach have an education sub-committee? I ask that he does so for many reasons which I will not enumerate. I ask that he consider as a matter of urgency the issue of school lands being sold off by religious orders and the consequent degradation of schools' facilities and amenities. On several occasions I have raised the case of Clonkeen College, a non-fee paying school in my constituency that is to have effectively all of its playing pitches sold to developers, which is a massive blow to the school. There are still hopes that the Government will intervene and prevent that from happening by securing those facilities and amenities. This issue does not solely concern a school in my area as there is a vast number of playing fields that are being sold or will potentially be sold. Ironically, in some cases that is being done to finance a redress scheme, which means that, as a consequence of one group of people being abused, the facilities of another group are now being attacked. Will the Department of the Taoiseach examine this matter and consider securing these school lands into State ownership?

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