Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I also welcome the Minister and thank Senator McCarthy for providing me with the opportunity to say a few words on this issue. I know this school well and have visited it many times. In an earlier age, it gave Sam Maguire to the world. More recently, Senator McCarthy and I today received a note from the school's principal, Miss Burke, asking how she could explain to the parents and teachers that their school can be deprived of a classroom at a time when apparently the Minister does not spend all the money allocated to her Department.

I am aware that the Minister receives such requests all the time but this is a school with a strong local community which is determined to make progress. The parents and teachers are trying to do their best for the school and are trying to create the space for a resource teacher at a reasonable level. At one point, the Department told the school that it would receive a Portakabin. It was refused and subsequently the school authorities were informed — this is heartbreaking — that they had no sense and should have applied for an ordinary classroom in the first place as if they had done so, they might have been offered a Portakabin.

The Minister and I have discussed this kind of event — which is unhelpful and difficult — many times on an informal basis. I do not know what to tell teachers in that situation. Senator McCarthy and I have discussed the issue, but how does one explain it in this day and age? This is not a large request and I ask the Minister to be generous and give it her best shot.