Adjournment Debate.

Hospital Services.

Deputy Pat Breen

I wish the Acting Chairman, the Ceann Comhairle and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle season's greetings and thank them for facilitating Members in raising matters on the Adjournment during this session.

It is a sad indictment of the Minister for Health and Children and the Government that the HSE's national service plan for 2009 was leaked to the media and that the matter was not debated in the House prior to Christmas. The House should have debated this important plan because a real emergency exists in respect of our health services.

If we read between the lines of the HSE's plan for 2009, it is obvious that we face a catastrophe. The plan is already obsolete. It emerged in recent days that some €900 million in cuts will be required and not the €500 million to which the plan refers. The Taoiseach stated yesterday that the purpose behind driving the efficiencies required is to maintain rather than reduce services. If €900 million in cuts are going to be necessary in respect of the HSE, I do not know how it might be suggested that services, particularly those of a front-line nature, will be reduced.

According to the plan, a reconfiguration of the accident and emergency services is envisaged in respect of several hospitals, including Ennis General Hospital in my constituency. The provision of 24-hour accident and emergency services at Ennis is again in the spotlight and under threat. In recent days, Clare GPs have spoken out about this matter and stated that 24-hour accident and emergency surgical services are to be withdrawn at Ennis from 1 April 2009. This will result in the loss of on-call anaesthesia services, intensive care and coronary care services and the discontinuation of all inpatient admissions and casualty services.

How does the Minister for Health and Children expect accident and emergency services to continue to be provided at Ennis General Hospital if surgical services are to be transferred? I appeal to her — I have done so on many occasions — to publish the Teamwork report. My sources inform me this unpublished report is already in place and being implemented by a project manager.

Who is going to pay the price for the cutbacks in the health service? The answer is that patients in the system will suffer. Long before the publication of the plan, patients were finding it difficult to access health services. Despite commitments given by the Minister for Health and Children, not only are hospital facilities under-resourced but patients and their families in County Clare face long waiting times in respect of critical appointments and older people are unable to remain at home and cannot find places in nursing homes. For those who wish to continue to live in their own homes, the primary care facilities are grossly underfunded. Each day I speak with patients and their families in respect of the stress they are obliged to endure.

The number of people on trolleys in our hospitals during the week was unbelievable. It is almost 40% higher than it was in 2006 when the Minister first said we had a national emergency. Last Tuesday, there were 390 people on trolleys in accident and emergency departments throughout the country. According to the Irish Nurses Organisation, there were 30 patients on trolleys in the Mid-West Regional Hospital in Limerick last Monday. The situation at that hospital has been chronic during the past few weeks.

By end December 21,038 people will have passed through the doors of accident and emergency at Ennis General Hospital, 4,586 of whom were classed as emergency admissions. How is Limerick Regional Hospital to cope with the additional influx of patients from Clare if accident and emergency services at Ennis General Hospital are contained? It will also have to cope with additional patients from Nenagh General Hospital and St. John's Hospital in Limerick, the services of which are also to be axed.

I want answers this evening. I am tired of hearing promises such as that the hospital development plan will shortly be announced. In an update I received recently from the Minister in regard to the progress in terms of implementation of the recommendations of the HSE following the incidence of C.difficle at the hospital, I was advised that the project to improve ward accommodation is progressing and is expected to go to tender early in 2009.

We want to know the current position. People are extremely worried. I note that the only reference in the plan to the capital programme for the hospital is a capital injection of €0.4 million for 2009 for completion of the radiology department and in respect of an upgrade of CT scanner services. We are awaiting publication of the report of the Health Information and Quality Authority into the tragic cases of misdiagnosis. My fear is that the report, rather than dealing with the real concerns of the families involved, will be used as a smokescreen to downgrade accident and emergency services at the hospital.

There will be chaos at Ennis General Hospital if these cuts go ahead. There will be chaos in County Clare and lives will be lost. A person in Kilbane who has the misfortune to suffer a heart attack — we must recognise in this regard international best practice in terms of the golden hour rule — will have to be taken directly to Limerick Regional Hospital, a journey of 117 km. The spatial analysis study of ambulance resources for the hospital and mid-west area has not yet been published. The ambulance service is already over-dependent on on-call services. How is this service, without adequate resources, to cope with transferring many more patients out of the county?

The people of Clare have heard enough rumours and spin. I want to know this evening if 24 hour services will continue at Ennis General Hospital; when the redevelopment project will go to tender, when additional resources will be made available for Clare ambulance services and, when the Teamwork report will be published? We deserve answers. It is time the Minister stopped running. It is time for leadership, accountability and answers.

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science (Deputy Seán Haughey)

I am responding to the Deputy on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.

The Government is committed to ensuring the delivery of the best possible quality health service in an effective and efficient way. Patient safety is of paramount importance in ensuring people have confidence in the services and that the best possible patient outcomes are achieved. It is essential that patient safety and quality are prioritised and that services are organised and managed accordingly.

In February 2007, the Health Service Executive commissioned Horwath Consultants in association with Teamwork Management Services to examine the arrangements for the provision of acute hospital services at Ennis and other hospitals in the mid-west with a view to identifying the best configuration of such services in the region, including arrangements for accident and emergency, critical care, acute medicine and surgery together with diagnostic services so that the highest quality of care can be delivered to the population of the region.

The work of the consultants will act as inputs to decisions on how best to reconfigure acute services in the mid-west region. The Government and HSE are committed to ensuring that the approach to reorganisation of services is carried out in consultation with the key stakeholders and that each element is progressed incrementally. The Minister believes that it is important to work with health professionals and other interested parties to secure an increasing set of improvements over time. This approach will, she is confident, produce the best outcome for patients.

Recent reports in regard to patient safety have raised concerns about the capacity of smaller hospitals such as Ennis General Hospital to deliver consistent high quality care for patients who present with complex care needs at accident and emergency. Smaller hospitals treating low numbers of complex cases means that medical and nursing staff often have difficulty in maintaining skills in specialised areas and delivering safe care to such patients. Concerns have also been raised in respect of the capacity to recruit permanent consultants in such hospitals with the inevitable reliance on long-term locum appointments.

Currently, the accident and emergency department at Ennis is staffed primarily by sub-consultant emergency care physicians who deal with all emergencies that present and then refer patients to the appropriate specialty or service based on their clinical assessment. The HSE in the mid-west is currently working on a detailed plan to address the future configuration of emergency services in the region so that they will be in line with best practice. This plan which will consist of an emergency care network under which designated services will be assigned to individual hospitals and service delivery will be based on clear protocols under the direction of a regional department of emergency medicine. Many of the services currently provided in local hospitals will continue under the new arrangements but in a more structured manner and with patient safety and quality of care as the determining criteria.

In regard to capital developments at Ennis, the Minister understands that installation of a CT scanner and radiology upgrade is under way and is expected to be completed in 2009. On the particular issue raised by the Deputy, the HSE has been asked to prioritise and accelerate the Ennis capital development project along with other key capital projects in the mid-west in order to support the delivery of a modernised and improved service for this area.

I assure the Deputy, on behalf of the Minister, that Ennis General Hospital will continue to play a significant part in the delivery of health care in the region.

Acting Chairman

I wish Deputy Breen a happy Christmas.

Deputy Pat Breen

I wish the Acting Chairman, Deputy O'Connor and the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Haughey, a happy Christmas.

National Drugs Strategy.

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

This matter relates to funding in respect of two projects providing drug addiction services in County Wicklow. The matter was brought to my attention by Sinn Féin's local councillor in the area, Councillor Eamon Long, who has been in contact with both groups to ensure that the information I read into the record today is correct and factual.

The Bara Project and Treo Nua are two community projects run by the County Wicklow Community Addiction Service which meet the support needs of drug users and recovering addicts in the east County Wicklow area, including Greystones, Enniskerry, Roundwood, Laragh, Rathdrum, Newtownmountkennedy, Newcastle, Kilcoole, Rathnew, Ashford, Wicklow Town, Aughrim, Avoca, Arklow, Carnew, Tinahelly and Shilleagh.

The Bara Project provides vital supports to people suffering addiction and to their families including advocacy, one-to-one supports, addiction counselling, holistic therapies, drug education programmes, onward referral, Prison Links work, and information and advice on drugs, drug use and related health promotion. Since opening in January 2007, the Bara Project has provided support services to 348 individuals or families, a huge number given the rural nature of the areas listed.

Treo Nua is a rehabilitation project that provides vital support services, in the form of a structured day programme, to those stable or drug-free. Although only established in January of this year it is already dealing with 35 referrals on an ongoing basis. This is likely to be a fraction of the real level of need in the area which will become increasingly visible as the projects become better established.

The Bara Project and Treo Nua have been informed in writing that their budgets are to be reduced respectively from €259,648 in 2008 to €150,000 in 2009, a €109,000 reduction and from €474,585 in 2008 to €381,000 in 2009, a reduction of €93,000. In 2007, the combined projects received a budget of €809,110. In 2008, that was reduced to €734,228 and now it is being further reduced to €531,500. That is a reduction of more than €277,000 in two years. The implications of those cuts are devastating. The staff cuts will mean that the numbers who can access the support services will be reduced. Funding for the Bara Project is set to be cut by 37.5%. A staff post will be lost, which means that some of those people seeking support to address their addiction will have to be turned away. Likewise Treo Nua will lose one and a half staff posts, as its funding is cut by 42%, so it will not be able to meet the support needs that exist among ex-drug users.

The bottom line is that one cannot meet the growing needs arising from the drugs crisis with fewer services. What rationale can the Minister provide for the sweeping cuts? The size of the cuts means they cannot be absorbed through technical efficiency manoeuvres or through expansion freezes. They mean one thing only, namely, service reduction. The implications of this budgetary decision for service users, their families and the wider community have been given zero consideration.

The Government talks tough on drugs but it is all talk. Here is the evidence. The full cost of the drugs crisis to society must be recognised. Those costs are human, social and economic. They include overdoses, road deaths, hospital stays, policing and prison costs, absenteeism from work, social welfare payments, related crime, intimidation and the existence of an extensive criminal underworld. The Government must invest in prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. Cuts are not the way forward, as the delivery of services cannot take place. The two services to which I referred are doing great work but they were only beginning to address some of the problems in the east Wicklow area. What they got in return for that is a kick in the teeth.

Deputy Seán Haughey

Problem drug use remains one of the key challenges facing Irish society today. Through the implementation of the actions in the national drugs strategy and the projects and initiatives operated through the local and regional drugs task forces, the problem is being addressed and the hardship caused to individuals and society is being alleviated.

The Government has been, and remains, firmly committed to tackling the problem of drug misuse in society. That is evidenced by the fact that between 2003 and 2008, there was a doubling of funding targeted at community-based initiatives funded through the Vote of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, from €31.5 million to more than €64 million.

This is an opportunity to reiterate the importance of the work of the local and regional drugs task forces, with regard to community based activities and projects. Local drugs task forces, LDTFs, were established in 1997 in the areas considered to be experiencing the worst levels of opiate misuse and are an important element of the Government's overall response to tackling drag misuse. Twelve areas in Dublin were identified as well as Cork city. Bray was subsequently added in 2000 as an LDTF.

The ten regional drugs task forces, RDTFs, were set up in 2003, covering all parts of the country not covered by an LDTF and thus achieving full coverage of the country. Following extensive consultation processes, each RDTF prepared a strategic plan and the implementation of those plans is now progressing. The work of the task forces is an important element of the overall national drugs strategy and their role is to prepare and implement local action plans. Those plans identity existing and emerging gaps in services in regard to each of the pillars of the strategy and support a range of measures including treatment, rehabilitation, education, prevention and curbing local supply.

In addition, the task forces provide a mechanism for the co-ordination of services and strategies in those areas while, at the same time, allowing local communities and voluntary organisations to participate in the planning, design and delivery of those services. The measures being implemented by the task forces are designed to complement and add value to the range of interventions being delivered through the State agencies. Membership of the task forces include representatives of all the relevant agencies such as Departments, the Health Service Executive, the Garda Síochána, the Probation and Welfare Service, the relevant local authority, elected public representatives, the Youth Service, FÁS, voluntary agencies and community representatives.

Across the 14 LDTF areas, more than 440 community-based projects, including those under the emerging needs fund, have been established employing more than 300 people. The type of projects being supported range from delivering services such as advice and support for drug misusers and their families, community drug teams offering treatment, outreach and crisis intervention services and drug training programmes for community groups.

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Can I interrupt the Minister of State?

Acting Chairman

There is no provision for that.

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

I wish to ask the Minister to put the last five paragraphs on the record because he will not reach them and they are the only ones that reply to the question.

Deputy Seán Haughey

I appreciate Deputy Ó Snodaigh's advice. That is what I was going to do. A lot of information is provided in the script that may be of use to Members in their work dealing with the drugs issue.

I will turn to the east coast regional drugs task force. In terms of funding, across Government, we have had to take a range of difficult decisions, but our approach has been to do it in as balanced a way as possible. We are all faced with difficult decisions in the current economic circumstances, especially in the short term.

This year, the budget for community-based initiatives in the local and regional drugs task force areas, including funding for new cocaine and rehabilitation measures introduced during the year, will reach approximately €34.8 million. Funding for 2009 is approximately €34.6 million, which is a minor reduction of 0.5% on the 2008 allocation from the Department.

While it is accepted that there may be some additional costs for projects going into 2009, all task forces, including the ECRDTF, are being asked to identify savings across their area of responsibility. I understand there will be some difficult choices to make but these are challenging times economically and we must all work together to minimise the impact on front-line services. It will be a matter for all the drugs task forces to identify measures to enable them to work within their allocated budgets and decisions on the 2009 allocations for any individual projects in this case with regard to the east coast RDTF. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs will continue to liaise with the task forces, other relevant agencies and the national drugs strategy team in the months ahead to ensure the continued operation of vital services in disadvantaged areas most affected by drug misuse.

It should be noted also that the drugs strategy is based on a co-ordinated effort across many Departments and agencies and that the Department's allocation is only part of a much bigger investment programme in drugs services by those other bodies. In 2007, it was estimated that expenditure on drugs programmes across all the bodies was in the region of €230 million. I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for raising the matter.

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Nollaig shona.

Acting Chairman

Happy Christmas to Deputy Ó Snodaigh.

Special Educational Needs.

Deputy Terence Flanagan

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for the opportunity to raise this important issue. The Dyslexia Association of Ireland made a presentation to the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service at the end of July explaining the difficulties it faced, in addition to the problems encountered by the parents of dyslexic children. It was an informative presentation. Sad to say, no action has been taken by the Government since the presentation was made.

The Dyslexic Association of Ireland has received a paltry €63,500 in grant aid from the Department of Education and Science each year for the past ten years. The Department only agreed to fund the association yesterday for 2008 in spite of the fact that a submission for funding was submitted well over a year ago. That shows a complete disrespect for the staff of the Dyslexia Association and for children with dyslexia who have been treated with contempt. That is a crazy situation and it makes it almost impossible for the association to plan ahead for the next year, never mind for the next three or five years. It is almost as if the funding being provided is an afterthought. The association cannot grow or expand its service or meet the service needs of its members. It is shameful as well that the funding has never been increased over the past ten years, even though the country was awash with money during the Celtic tiger years. This is a disgrace, given the level of inflation over the past ten years. The Fianna Fáil-led Government has never carried out a study to find out how may children suffer from dyslexia. The funding received by the Dyslexia Association of Ireland is being used very wisely for assessments and funding for disadvantaged children, so clearly value for money is being achieved. It is a voluntary association, with 31 branches throughout the country. I want to take this opportunity to thank the staff for the great work they do in helping children who suffer from dyslexia. It provides specialist out of school workshops, which cater for 1,000 children who have been diagnosed with dyslexia. Sadly, the association has had to discontinue its very successful summer school this year because parents cannot afford the fees. Clearly children are suffering because of the lack of support from the Government for dyslexia victims.

The Government must set its priorities and adequately fund the Dyslexia Association of Ireland, not just pay lip service to it. This Government has squandered and wasted hundreds of millions over the past ten years. That is one of the reasons we find ourselves where we are, in the current economic difficulties. We have electronic voting machines just collecting dust. They cost hundreds of thousands in storage fees each year. Why can the Government not take a decision to scrap these machines and set this money aside to help and support the Dyslexia Association of Ireland and other organisations that find themselves in the same situation?

The Dyslexia Association of Ireland gives hope and help to those children who struggle with English and basic learning. The Government has prided itself on the standard of education in the country, but clearly all children are not being treated equally or given the same help and opportunities.

Every euro spent in early intervention education yields a return of €7 in later years. I support the association's campaign for having tax legislation amended so that tuition fees for children attending association workshops, which cost between €800 and €900, should become tax deductible. Perhaps the Minister of State might consider supporting such a tax concession for tuition fees, and raising this with the Minister for Finance. It is estimated that the cost of allowing this tax relief would be €200,000, while at the same time the Dyslexia Association of Ireland pays the Revenue that amount in taxes. This means it would be revenue neutral for the Exchequer.

I ask the Minister of State and the Department of Education and Science to get real on this issue and adequately fund the Dyslexia Association of Ireland. Can he please give certainty to this association by starting to fund it properly, and not make it wait to the last days of the year for confirmation as regards funding, which is totally unsatisfactory at the moment?

Deputy Seán Haughey

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that the Department of Education and Science has provided annual funding of €63,500 to the Dyslexia Association of Ireland. This funding helps the organisation to operate an information service for members and the public. In addition, part of the funding assists in meeting the costs associated with the attendance of some children from disadvantaged backgrounds at workshops and programmes organised by the association.

Furthermore, a grant is awarded annually to the Dyslexia Association of Ireland towards the cost of its adult education activities. The activities funded by the grant include literacy training, pre-course assessment, teaching materials and educational and administrative support. A key focus and priority of the Department is to provide for resources in schools to support pupils with special educational needs, including those with dyslexia. For mainstream primary schools, this is done through the general allocation model. This model was introduced in September 2005 and ensures that mainstream primary schools have the additional teaching resources already in place to enable them to cater for children with high-incidence special educational needs, including dyslexia. There is no need for schools to make separate applications for such supports.

It is a matter for the individual school to use its professional judgment to identify pupils that will receive this support and to use the resources available to intervene at the appropriate level with such pupils. The Department issued a comprehensive circular, SP ED 02/05, to schools to provide guidelines and advice on the manner in which they should use the resources that have been allocated to them to best effect. In addition, the Department provides funding for a number of special schools and special classes attached to mainstream primary schools which have been sanctioned to meet the needs of children with dyslexia. All special schools and special classes for such children operate at a reduced pupil-teacher ratio and pupils attending such facilities attract a special increased rate of capitation.

Second level pupils with dyslexia are normally included in mainstream classes. Additional teacher supports are allocated to second level schools and vocational education committees to cater for pupils with special educational needs, including, where appropriate, pupils with dyslexia. To qualify for additional teaching support, under this category, pupils must be assessed by a psychologist as being of average intelligence or higher and having a degree of learning disability specific to basic skills in reading, writing or mathematics, which places them at or below the second percentile on suitable, standardised, norm referenced tests.

In accordance with the terms of circular letter M10/94 and depending on an educational assessment, pupils with dyslexia may meet the criteria for exemption from the learning of the Irish language on the grounds of having a learning disability. They may also be eligible for special arrangements in State certificate examinations. The Department provides funding to schools for the purchase of specialised equipment such as computers to assist children with special educational needs, including children with dyslexia, with their education once relevant professionals recommend the equipment. Schools can apply to the local special educational needs organiser directly for this support.

The Department supports teachers with additional training needs in the area of dyslexia. The Deputy will be aware of the special education support service, SESS, which manages, co-ordinates and develops a range of supports in response to identified teacher training needs. The SESS provides fees subsidies for the on-line training course, "Dyslexia: Identification and Early Interventions". Fee subsidies are also provided for teachers to enable them to avail of the Dyslexia Association of Ireland courses.

The Dyslexia Association of Ireland has over the years proved itself to be a genuine organisation that provides a range of supports for children with dyslexia and their parents. The association has co-operated with various initiatives taken by my Department, including the task force on dyslexia. I am pleased that the Department has been able to provide funding to the association. The Department has developed an information resource pack on dyslexia in CD-Rom, DVD and video format, in association with the Department of Education in Northern Ireland. This product has been made available to all primary and post-primary schools. The DVD and video provides support for parents of pupils with dyslexia while the CD-Rom assists teachers who are teaching children with dyslexia in the mainstream classroom. The Dyslexia Association of Ireland supported and assisted in this initiative.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to clarify the position on this matter.

Deputy Terence Flanagan

I thank the Minister of State. I should be grateful if the issue of the funding could be raised with the Minister for Finance, in terms of whether it might be allocated at a much later date, as well as tax relief for tuition fees.

School Placement.

Deputy David Stanton

I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me raise this matter and the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Haughey, for coming in to address the issue.

I have raised the matter of the shortage of post-primary school places in Midleton, east Cork on a number of occasions in the House previously. Currently, there are four second level schools in the Midleton area, a number in Cobh and a number in Youghal. However, I want to focus on the situation in Midleton where the schools are full. I have done a projection of the future need, based on the enrolment figures in the primary schools. By the time the children from junior infants up to fifth class reach second level school, there will be 800 extra students looking for places in Midleton as some 20 primary schools feed into the town. The schools are full now, but as far as I am aware, there are no plans to increase the number of places at second level. A new school is required.

In April last year the former Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Mary Hanafin, advised that the Department was in the process of identifying the areas where significant additional accommodation would be required at primary and post-primary level for 2009 and onwards. Can the Minister of State inform us what is happening in that regard or communicate with me afterwards on the issue?

I have been told that no land is zoned for a school in the area, but that there has been some communication between the Department and the local authority. However, not much seems to be happening. Already this year, students have been told there is no school place for them and I am afraid the situation will get worse. Some 800 extra children will come on stream in the next number of years as a result of the explosion in housing in the area, but no plans are in place to cope with this and no land has been zoned for a school. What is even more worrying is that when I asked the former Minister for Education and Science last February about enrolment trends, she said the information requested was not readily available in her Department.

I am aware there have been problems in the Dublin area in this regard, but it is now happening in the east Cork area. A new rail link is coming into the area and large amounts of land were zoned for housing. Houses have been built, but there is no provision for extra schools, although the schools in the area are full.

I urge the Minister to take this issue on board as a matter of urgency and to start planning now. I am sure the Minister realises that even if he cracks the whip in the Department today on planning, it will take five or six years before anything happens. The schools are full now and are talking about putting up prefabs. That may work at primary level, but will not work at second level because specialist rooms are required. It is much more difficult to cater for these with prefabs. There is also the question of health and safety. We cannot cram children into narrow corridors and schools with not enough room for them. The current schools were not designed for that. The issue is crucial.

I am here to advocate on behalf of the people I represent in east Cork in the Midleton area. There are also problems in Cobh and Youghal, but not to the same extent currently. I look forward to what the Minister of State has to say in his remarks and hope he has a Christmas present for the people I represent.

Deputy Seán Haughey

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the Dáil the process being used in the Department of Education and Science to ensure there will be sufficient accommodation in schools at primary and post-primary level in all parts of the country.

In response to the rapid pace of social and demographic change in Ireland, the forward planning section of the Department now uses the latest technology in geographical information systems, GIS, to assist it in planning the location of schools for the future. The GIS system contains information on all schools in the country, primary and post-primary, which are geocoded to their correct location. This information is then linked to the relevant demographic information for those geographic areas, with a view to forecasting future school accommodation needs.

Typically, the demographic information will be from the Census 2006 population figures, supplemented by information from the local authority. The An Post geodirectory is also used to set out spatially where demographic increases are occurring. To assess future school accommodation needs, growth projection figures are applied to existing population figures, which are supplied either by local authorities through their area development plans or based on CSO regional population projections.

The forward planning section of the Department is in the process of applying this technological approach to the entire country and when this exercise has been completed, a full data set on priority areas will be available. As a matter of course, there is also ongoing liaison between the forward planning section and local authorities in order to establish the location, scale and pace of any proposed major housing developments and their possible implications for school provision.

In this regard, officials from the Department have met with officials from Cork County Council to assess the extent of ongoing and proposed residential developments in County Cork, particularly with regard to the east and southern environs of Cork city, including the Midleton area. As part of the Midleton special local area plan, the local authority has included plans for the provision and construction of primary schools and the setting aside of land for the construction of a new post-primary school to meet the educational needs of the population of the area.

Progress on the development of these schools, together with any applications for capital funding from existing providers, will be considered for progression in the context of the Department's school building and modernisation programme, consistent with the priority attaching to these projects under the Department's published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects.

I thank the Deputy again for raising this matter and assure him that the capital allocation of €4.5 billion for school buildings under the current national development plan will be prioritised by the Department to ensure that school places are available where needed, including in Midleton.

I take this opportunity to wish Deputy Stanton, all the staff of the House, the Acting Chairman, Deputy Charlie O'Connor, and all his constituents in Tallaght and surrounding areas a very happy Christmas.

Acting Chairman

That is very kind of the Minister of State. I am sure the people of Tallaght will be very happy to hear that. I also wish to thank colleagues for their assistance. I wish all a very happy Christmas, including staff and the nice people in the media.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.30 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 27 January 2009.

Dáil Éireann debate - Thursday, 18 Dec 2008