Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

The building programme is not meeting schools' needs; it is failing. For example, Moycullen national school, County Galway, has been on the schools building programme list for 11 years. Its representatives are unhappy with the Department of Education and Science building programme. When I asked them how the system could be improved they replied that applications for schools waiting more than three years should be prioritised. That is a reasonable request.

Newcastle national school, Athenry, has been on the list for almost 12 years. It cannot get any details on its position on the list. The school is bulging at the seams and believes it is being ignored. One of the school's resource teachers has to teach in the staff room, a hut used also by the principal and another resource teacher. The hut leaks and the heating fluctuates with the weather. The school's secretary must work from home. This is Government under Fianna Fáil in 2008.