Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I welcome his comments and appreciate the investment he has outlined in general terms into school facilities. On the challenge with emergency works, I will give Manor House School in Raheny as an example. It is a very popular girls' school. It has a large AstroTurf pitch beside the school which belongs to it. The surface is really poor. It is an enormous job. I doubt it will qualify for any emergency works scheme because the scale of it is too large, but there is a huge opportunity there for the community in terms of partnership and for the school itself in the long term if we can find ways to partner on that.

I also want to raise the situation that has come up very recently in relation to Belgrove Infant Girls' School in Clontarf. Due to its enrolment numbers it has had its funding allocation cut for one teacher, potentially causing serious difficulty in the school. Depending on how the management of that school distributes staff, which I appreciate is a management decision, we could end up with a situation where there are 35 pupils to one teacher in that school. The Minister of State will understand that would be a very challenging situation for the school and for the management. I am raising it in the hope the Minister of State will raise it with the Minister, so it is looked at.

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