Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I spoke yesterday about the need to reform the expenses system. As can be seen in the media today, this issue will not go away. We must deal with it. The reputation of Parliament is under scrutiny. The people do not believe the current system is transparent. I ask the Leader to impress upon the Minister the need to act on the matter now.

I welcome the news that University College Dublin and Dublin University are ranked in the top 100 universities in the world and that other Irish universities are also improving their rankings. This is a tribute to the hard work of students and lecturers in both universities. However, we should not take their performance for granted. It is dependent on good primary and secondary education systems. I am concerned, therefore, to see reports that up to half the school building budget for this year has not been spent. This probably means that another 1,000 construction jobs could have been started in the country. We must ask why the budget has not been spent. My party has been pushing for this. We are in the middle of a baby boom. Ireland has the highest birth rate in Europe. It is twice as high as that in Germany and Austria. In 2008 there were 75,000 births in the country, an increase of 10,000 on the figure for the previous year. That means another 300 to 400 classrooms will be needed in 2011 and 2012. We need to start planning for this now. If we fail to spend the money which is approved for schools building projects, we will have problems in two years time. We need to know why this has happened. I have seen the lack of school places in County Meath. We must solve the problem now. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on the issue of budgetary provision in the primary school system.