John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

Deputy Gallagher gave as good an answer as he could. In the early part of his answer he referred to three schools catering for 720 pupils each and in the second part he said the school planning section's discussion paper recommended three schools catering for 500 each. At the beginning of his reply the Minister of State referred to declining enrolments. There has been a large increase in enrolments in the past few years in New Ross. Despite the fact that it seems the school planning section is talking about declining enrolments, that is not the case. Enrolments have grown in recent years. The catchment area of New Ross extends to three parishes, diocese and county council areas. I think there is a tiny piece of south county Carlow around St. Mullins. I stand to be corrected on that.

The Minister of State referred to the ongoing discussion between the trustees, but that has been ongoing for five years. While he cannot solve it here tonight, it must be brought to a head because there are significant problems in the secondary schools. The buildings need investment or they will become dilapidated. I ask the Department to get involved in bringing it to a positive resolution for the students. This has dragged on since the McCarthy report five years ago. That must be unsatisfactory to all concerned. I would welcome it if Deputy Gallagher could bring my concerns on this issue to the attention of the Minister for Education and Science. New Ross has been badly neglected on this issue.