Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What actually matters is the outcomes and delivery for patients and students. If it was just about spending more money our problems would be very easy to solve. Of course it is about much more than that.

Picking up on Deputy O'Reilly's question on the schools, of course what is paramount for us is the safety of students and staff. It is going to be necessary to inspect approximately 40 schools that were built by this particular company. We anticipate that work will be done this week, over the Hallowe'en break. We anticipate it being completed by the middle of November. In some cases works are going to be needed. Those works will be done. In some cases it may be necessary to partially or entirely vacate some schools, in others it may be possible to introduce temporary measures and to do the works over the summer. We will pursue the builder in the courts. In fact, that is already under way in respect of some of the fire safety issues. It certainly appears that corners were cut back in the Celtic tiger period when it came to the building of some of these schools. That is truly disgraceful. We are in a very different position now. For the last couple of years a clerk of works was present on site every day when a school was being built in order to make sure that it was built up to standard. It certainly appears that prior to 2014 or 2015, and particularly during the Celtic tiger period, schools were built without proper oversight. We now have to go back, make sure they are safe, fix them, and pursue the people responsible.

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