Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I do not see the need for another forum just to bring people together to talk, when we have plenty of ways of ensuring everybody's voice is heard. The important thing is to continue to move forward.

The Government is investing €4.5 billion in school buildings under the national development plan to ensure we have sufficient places for children of schoolgoing age. We are very conscious of the needs of the growing population and the particular needs of our large immigrant communities, and we want to ensure all of these are met. We are conscious of the requirements of diversity and the new Ireland. We are determined to meet these demands and provide an additional 100,000 places in the next few years.