asked the Minister for Education if he will state the number of new national schools in respect of each county that have been completed in the three months from 1st January, 1959, to 31st March, 1959, and the number in respect of which major schemes of enlargement or reconstruction have been carried out in the same period.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Building and Reconstruction of Schools.
40.
I propose, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to circulate in the Official Report, the attached tabular statement.
It will be noted, when the totals for the three months in question are added to the totals for the previous nine months in relation to which I furnished information to the Deputy on the 25th February, 1959, that during the year ended 31st March, 1959, the building of 92 new schools was completed and 61 major schemes of enlargement or reconstruction were carried out. These figures are 6 and 2, respectively, in excess of the figures given by me to the House in the course of my speech on my Department's estimates. The reason for the discrepancy is that it is only during the past week that the Office of Public Works had final accurate details of the Buildings actually completed on the 31st March, 1959.
Following is the statement:—
RETURN showing (a) the number of new national schools in respect of each County that have been completed in the quarter ended 31st March, 1959, and (b) the number in respect of which major schemes of enlargement or reconstruction were carried out.
|
(a) |
(b) |
|
|
County |
Number of Schools Completed |
Number of major schemes of enlargement or reconstruction completed |
|
Carlow |
— |
1 |
|
Cavan |
— |
2 |
|
Clare |
2 |
— |
|
Cork |
1 |
1 |
|
Donegal |
5 |
2 |
|
Dublin |
6 |
3 |
|
Galway |
6 |
2 |
|
Kerry |
— |
— |
|
Kildare |
1 |
— |
|
Kilkenny |
— |
— |
|
Laois |
— |
— |
|
Leitrim |
1 |
— |
|
Limerick |
— |
— |
|
Longford |
1 |
1 |
|
Louth |
1 |
2 |
|
Mayo |
— |
1 |
|
Meath |
— |
2 |
|
Monaghan |
— |
— |
|
Offaly |
— |
— |
|
Roscommon |
1 |
— |
|
Sligo |
— |
3 |
|
Tipperary |
4 |
1 |
|
Waterford |
1 |
1 |
|
Westmeath |
2 |
1 |
|
Wexford |
— |
1 |
|
Wicklow |
1 |
— |
|
TOTAL |
33 |
24 |
Would it not be in order for a Minister, when he is issuing information such as this, to include explanations of the discrepancies in the figures? Otherwise, the figures are misleading.
If the Deputy reads my reply, he will see that 92 new schools were completed and 61 major schemes of enlargement or reconstruction were carried out and, if the Deputy would cease asking these silly questions, he would assist, rather than retard, the school building programme.
Any question relating to the drift from the land and emigration from rural Ireland is not a silly question.
The Minister for Education is not competent to try to hide it.
It was the highest number ever.
Bad temper.
Order!
You stopped building them.
We built more than you ever built.