Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

Will the Leader arrange for a debate on the schools building programme and have the Minister for Education and Science attend? We are now in May and schools are facing another September without having advanced through the programme. The devolved grants are a welcome step but in one school in County Carlow, instead of receiving the €1 million it was looking for, it got €560,000. This left the school in an awkward situation because it is not enough to proceed and a refusal would result in its going back a few years in terms of building. This is a disaster.

The announcement by the Minister last week about 124 schools progressing through the architectural planning stage is a complete myth. Two schools in County Carlow have gone backwards in this process, which is hard to believe. A secondary school in County Carlow received word four or five years ago that it would get a new building but last week——