Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank him for raising the matter, as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the current position regarding the value for money review of small primary schools, which is part of the normal review processes undertaken by all Departments on an annual basis on selected areas of expenditure and which is being conducted in line with the standard procedures for such reviews. These procedures require that the views of stakeholders be obtained. The interest groups contacted included the school patron bodies, management bodies, teacher unions, national parents' council, Irish language groups and other groups who operate in the area of social inclusion. A public consultation process was also put in place.

The review will attempt to explore the general policy options for re-organisation of small schools, including the sharing of resources and clustering arrangements towards small schools.