Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her helpful reply and I acknowledge the tremendous investment in education in County Kildare in school buildings in particular and in improving standards generally. We all came through the time when it was not so. We are anxious to ascertain certain things. For instance, Mercy Convent in Naas appears to be completed in terms of building works, but is not. It is completed on the outside but not the inside.

The Minister kindly arranged for Oireachtas Members to meet with the planning section of her Department, wherein we learned a few things, some reassuring and some not. One was the disclosure that a climate element had to be applied to each school place requirement as we proceed, to the effect that some children were ushered into a school other than their local school, other than the school their siblings attended and other than the school their parents had attended. They felt they had a right to be heard. While we agree climate is important, the lives and education of children is equally important. The Minister understands that more than anybody else. We are anxious to help and for the Minister to help us.

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