Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My information is that the Department received that information from the local authority but it was not requested by the Department of Education and Skills regarding the non-large-scale developments, which is all Ashbourne has. There would not be any under the new planning process or indeed under LIHAF but the area is still growing rapidly. I am afraid the spin unit is rubbing off a bit on the Minister regarding prefabs. He said it was understandable that prefabs would be used in respect of schools started since 2011 and that this was an efficient use of resources, but the truth is that the number of prefabs increased by 25% from 2016 to 2017 under his watch - nobody's else's watch. This is why I make the charge that he is the Minister who is bringing back prefabs. This is all over the country. A 25% increase is one of the largest increases in prefabs on record under the Minister's watch. It has happened because of the lack of planning in the Department and because it is fire-fighting. From everything the Minister says, it seems to me that he has refused to ask for more capital money for the here and now. We have plenty of promises for the future but there needs to be more for the here and now.

I am surprised that the national development plan shows the number of primary-level schoolchildren falling off a cliff and yet the Government has not done its demographic analysis. I am beginning to think the figures do not add up.

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