Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It was a strange sort of legacy and I am delighted to see the Minister is correcting it. It seems to be an industrial relations practice from Noah's Ark.

The National Development Finance Agency is coming in on the Minister's ambitious schools building programme and the former VECs will become involved in primary education where the Minister sees a gap. As he pointed out, we face such an increase in population that this expenditure must be incurred and he is removing the bureaucratic and administrative obstacles to that.

There is a section on gifts and trusts. The chief executive officer shall decide within month of the offer being made on how it will use gifts and trusts. I think that is in finance legislation to encourage philanthropy. Why wait a month? It may be a small point but if anyone wants to put money into education, let us welcome it.