asked the Minister for Education if it is now the policy of his Department not to include facilities for physical education in post-primary school buildings.

Because of the overriding need to reserve available capital resources for the provision of essential classroom and laboratory accommodation in post-primary schools, it has been found necessary to suspend for the present the scheme of grants towards the cost of sports halls or gymnasia in post-primary schools.

Will the Minister not agree that it was an ill-conceived scheme to reduce the standard of schools for the sake of saving money? The schools will cater for the post-primary education of children in a large area for generations to come. I am interested particulary in the proposed building scheme for Donegal. Why has the Minister reduced the standard of the schools there to a non-acceptable level? This has created much animosity in the area because people have been waiting for the provision of schools for many years. The Minister had a letter from parents with regard to this matter, a copy of which I have here.

I understand the concern of parents throughout the country that the facilities available in post-primary schools should be as comprehensive as possible. However, there is the necessity for making choices and establishing priorities within the amount available for capital purposes to my Department. At the moment I think the correct decision is that the money should be devoted to classrooms and laboratories rather than towards sports halls. Perhaps I might give the Deputy a figure of the cost involved: the amount of applications for post-primary schools would cost £170 million. This is a measure of the demand for new resources for post-primary schools.