Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister but many schools throughout the country have no access to school hall facilities at all. Many talented students want to study leaving certificate PE but cannot access it as their school does not have the facilities. This is not good enough. It creates a real inequality. What will the Minister do to ensure all students who wish to study PE at leaving certificate level will have the same opportunity to do so and that their school will be provided with the resources to facilitate this? It is my understanding the Department is currently only focusing, as the Minister said, on school halls for new builds or where schools are undergoing significant renovation. This means schools operating in older and existing buildings are losing out. Is it the case the Department is not allowing applications for hall facilities for existing school buildings? Will the Minister reverse this policy decision to allow all schools have access to adequate PE facilities as committed to under the national development plan?

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