With reference to Question No. 81, would the Minister be prepared to elucidate further as to the number of representations she has received from the various VEC schools in County Kildare requesting the employment of a caretaker? In relation to the teaching of German, could the Minister indicate——

That is hardly relevant, Deputy.

It is included in the question. Could the Minister indicate her own response to the situation which prevails in some schools in County Kildare where teachers have to pay to have their children taught German?

I do not have a list of the representations with me. With regard to the general question of the replacement of caretakers, I would remind the Deputy that it was his Government who took on board that policy in the conduct of their Estimates.

That was two years ago.

The Deputy may want to forget his past. With regard to the teaching of German in Maynooth, that was one of the issues raised by the group who came to see me from the County Kildare VEC. We had a useful discussion on the matter and I indicated that while, in general, the allocation of teaching hours and people goes to a committee system which allocates the resources, in the light of the programme commencing in September I will look at the case they put to me.