Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 82: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to ensure that children have access to play and physical education facilities in inclement weather conditions; if there is a timeframe in which her Department will ensure that all schools have physical education facilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7954/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Many primary schools have a general purposes room for play and PE facilities during inclement weather. In addition, practically all schools have play areas which are utilised for teaching different aspects of the physical education programme. A similar situation with sports halls and outdoor facilities applies at second level. Many schools have the use of adjacent local facilities, including public parks, playing fields and swimming pools.

The provision of multi-purpose space for primary schools will continue to be considered within the design brief for new schools and-or renovation and extension school building projects. This will also be the case for PE facilities at second level. This will be done in the context of available resources and the published criteria for prioritising school building projects. My Department has never underestimated the scale of the task and the level of capital funding and other resources required to rectify decades of under investment in school infrastructure. In 2005, €270 million will be allocated to primary schools and €223 million to post-primary schools for building and modernisation works, which represents an increase of 14% on last year and is six times greater than the amount allocated in 1997.