asked the Minister for Education what secondary schools in Dublin will provide additional accommodation for pupils this year; the number of extra pupils in each school; and the assistance which the State will give to each school in the provision of such accommodation.

The provision of additional accommodation in a secondary school is a matter in the first instance for the school authorities. A grant of 70 per cent of the cost of providing such accommodation is payable by the State.

With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to have circulated in the Official Report a list of the secondary schools which to date have submitted proposals to my Department for the provision of additional accommodation this year. These proposals have been approved for purposes of grant. The total number of new places is 5,000.

Following is the statement:

If the school authorities fail to provide the accommodation which will be required, does the Minister propose to take any initiative to have the accommodation provided?

This year alone the number of new places will be over 5,000.

That is not answering the question. The question is whether the Minister himself will take the initiative if it is not taken in the first instance by the school authorities?

There is no evidence that there will be any necessity for me to take any action.

In St. Joseph's School, Marino, there are 186 applicants for 40 places, which means 142 of them have to go off. They cannot get into a technical school or any other school in the area.

There will be certain complications at the start. First, this just shows you what a fine school this is and, secondly, it shows the demand for post-primary education which hitherto was not available to so many people.

What will happen the 142 who cannot get into any school? Will they get no secondary education whatever?

The Deputy can rest assured that next September no child will be denied post-primary education or a place in a school.

Is the Minister aware that for some years past many hundreds of children in the Dublin area have been unable to get secondary education because the accommodation is not there? While the figure the Minister has given us here in the silence of this Chamber may appear to be dramatic, it is only a small drop in the ocean of accommodation required to meet the situation which existed before any recent plans were announced.

The Deputy is surprised at the figure I have given of over 5,000 places?

It is negligible.

As a matter of fact, the taunt of the Fine Gael Party was that I would not have either the teachers or the places.

The Minister has not got them.

The Deputy is upset I have got them.

The Minister has not any scheme.

I am grateful to Fine Gael. The propaganda value of their supplementary questions shows the success of the scheme.

Will it take the Minister two and a half years to provide the money which he has not yet provided for several schools which were sanctioned for capital grants two and a half years ago?

The Deputy is confused.

The Minister deliberately tried to confuse the whole teaching profession.

He does not know what he is talking about.