I have no doubt there will be no undue loss of time, and it will be referred back to the proposing authority in due course.
Turning to schools, Deputy Larkin inquired whether or not we were getting more schools for the increased expenditure voted year by year for schools. That question, on analysis, boils down to this: are we getting better value for the money we are investing in the building of schools. The answer is that we are. Efficiency in the building of schools is increasing steadily.
Deputy Harte, and also Deputy Dillon, raised the question of the building of schools in remote areas. Deputy Dillon said it might be desirable if central parish schools were built and that the idea of the little local school—the small one or two-teacher school—should be gradually abandoned in favour of larger central schools with better amenities and better teaching facilities. This question is of course primarily a matter for the Department of Education. It is merely the function of the Office of Public Works to build schools in the place selected by the Department of Education. However, it is no harm to say in passing that my personal opinion is this is an idea well worth considering and is related to the question raised by Deputy Larkin—getting the best possible value for money invested in the building of schools.
Deputy Gallagher was worried as to whether there was real competition in the matter of tenders for schools. I should like to assure Deputy Gallagher and the House that this is a question which is carefully watched at all times. If it is felt necessary that tenders should be re-invited, this expedient is resorted to.
Deputy Davern expressed concern about what he considers might be a possible delay in dealing with the building of Clonoulty school. It is one of the group that has been selected to be built in a large contract on the modular plan. I do not think Deputy Davern need have any concern about this. The very purpose of this plan, making a large contract out of a group of schools of this kind, is to ensure that not only do we get the best possible value for the money invested but that the schools will be provided with the minimum delay.
Deputy P. O'Donnell expressed the view that there was no real necessity for the building of a school in Belcruit, County Donegal. The manager is of a different opinion and some time ago he wrote to the Office of Public Works and intimated this. It appears the old school is over 100 years old, standing on a very bad boggy site and is damp and unsuitable for teaching children in modern times. For those reasons it has been replaced.
Deputy Coughlan and Deputy Treacy mentioned their concern about the share their respective constituencies got in the matter of the building of new schools. I should like to say to Deputy Coughlan that in County Limerick there are 17 new schools being built and 16 others are being tendered for or are about to be tendered for. In the case of Tipperary, in the past three years 15 new schools and 11 major reconstruction jobs on schools have been completed at a cost of approximately £368,000. There are 16 new schools at present in the process of being built and there are eight major improvement schemes in progress, the total cost of these being £385,200. It can hardly be said that neither County Limerick nor County Tipperary is being neglected in this respect.
Deputy Treacy mentioned the question of school strikes and said that he felt that before action could be got from the Office of Public Works in the matter of building schools, it was necessary for parents and children to organise strikes so as to draw attention to the fact that their particular school was in a bad condition, To begin with, such strikes are not necessary. A very remarkable increase in the construction of schools in recent years means, if anything at all, that the Government are very conscious of the need not only for new schools, but for the raising of the standard of the types of school that are required.
Strikes do not have any bearing at all on the operations of the Office of Public Works because it is our function to erect schools where the Department of Education elect that they should be erected. There were a couple of isolated cases of contractors who fell down on the job. That is correct enough, but in those cases the contractors have been replaced.