Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and the Minister for the very positive answer. In her previous career, the Minister of State was aware of the challenges faced by teachers in schools. Having met some of the teachers in the Carline learning centre, I am aware that they go beyond what would normally be expected of teachers to ensure that the very vulnerable young people with whom they work get the best quality education. They also have a very impressive voluntary board that is putting a considerable amount of time into the development of the centre to ensure its governance and other affairs are in order. If we are able to get this application, on which we will communicate with the school as a matter of urgency, into the education and training board as soon as possible, we would hope the Department and the Minister of State, through her good offices, would be willing to assist in expediting it as quickly as possible. Clearly we cannot have a scenario where young people in an educational institution are at risk due to a lack of adequate capital funding. It is not a large amount of money. I thank the Minister of State for the encouraging response. We will stay in touch with the Minister of State over the coming weeks.

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