Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I cannot give the Senator a timeframe this evening. Often with capital projects, timeframes depend on how the projects ahead in the queue are proceeding and if there is a delay in one of those, sometimes another project goes ahead. It is not easy. People are always asking me as a Minister for timeframes and I often say it is not that simple. Sometimes a project which might have been expected to proceed does not proceed for one reason such as planning and that means another project can jump forward. I will try to get answers from the Department of Education and Science and clarification as to the meaning of the band rating of 2.1. I presume the Department has given as much information in terms of timeframes as it can.

There is a very substantial budget. At the end of the day, there is €580 million for schools next year. We have been spending at an unprecedented rate and I am sure County Cavan is no different from all the other counties I have visited. Many of the schools that needed work have had it done in the past four or five years. I have seen school after school throughout the country, many of which I have had the privilege of opening. It is fair to say that most of the rural primary schools with very poor accommodation have been dealt with.