Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, to the House and wish her well in the Department of Education and Science. I compliment her on the work she is doing in the area of adult education. In the last Dáil I was chairman of the committee on education and one of the issues we addressed by way of report was literacy levels. We sought funding for adult education and the situation improved. I hope the Minister of State will be able to build on that in her term in office.

Like my colleague, Senator Fitzgerald, I welcome our increased commitment to school building and accommodation. Since 1997 there has been a fourfold increase in funding for primary school buildings. This is a huge issue and every Senator has spoken about it. While we have done well in terms of the appointment of additional teachers and the pupil teacher ratio has been reduced, there is a crying need for more investment in primary school buildings. It was a major issue during the general election campaign, as other Members and I found to our cost. The condition of primary school buildings was mentioned at every public meeting.

I am glad progress is being made and delighted the Minister has confirmed on the Department's website that 400 schools building projects are at architectural planning stage. A total of 40 are planned for County Galway, with five in the city and 35 in the county. With the exception of Dublin, the county has the greatest number of schools awaiting sanction for building projects.

The Minister of State reiterated the Department will publish the expenditure proposal for school buildings in January and the relevant schools will be advised at that stage. That is welcome. Like many previous speakers, I am a teacher by profession.