I call Deputy Joe Higgins. I ask members to allow Deputy Higgins to contribute without interruption, please.

If somebody dropped in from Mars they would think there was an election coming. How does one explain that in west Dublin, east Meath, Kildare and many other areas of rapidly expanding population in this State hundreds of children wanting to start primary school this September have no classrooms to go to? The Government made no provision for them, leaving hard-working parents angry and frustrated and in crisis. That has been a staggering feature of the current Government for more than ten years. It gave complete freedom to developers to construct tens of thousands of houses and apartments in new areas but did not oblige them to provide social infrastructure at the same time, schools being one of the most vital. In some cases the Government allowed them to use their control of school sites to blackmail the Department of Education and Science and the local authority for millions of euro extra or for planning concessions. It allowed developers to hold children's education to ransom and they walked away with billions, leaving communities bereft. When one looks at the list of donations to Ministers and others by developers one might conclude that, perhaps, that is the explanation.

Since last September, 60 children in the Laytown and Bettystown area have been going to school in a gymnasium. Last June Deputy Cowley and I, representing the independent Deputies, made strong representations to the Minister for Education and Science on their behalf. We were promised that classrooms would be available for the new school year 2006-07. The children moved last week from the gym to the prefabricated buildings that were provided. Now 103 children in that area have nowhere to go in September. There are two schools with 630 children on one site of 2.5 acres. In Littlepace, Ongar in west Dublin we have three schools, one permanent and two temporary, cramped on to one site of 3.5 acres and dozens of children are now being excluded from schools in the area because there is no place in Clonsilla and Castleknock. The position is similar in Kildare. Pupils wanting to start secondary school face a similar crisis.

The Minister for Education and Science has been parading herself around teachers' conferences with an air of it being her first communion day, but she has dismally failed to make provision for new communities and secure school places for children, as would be normal. Will the Taoiseach set up a special unit, a schools emergency response unit, in the Department of Education and Science to address this crisis instantly, to go into talks with teachers, principals and parents in the area to ensure that each child will have a place this September in his or her local community and that there will be permanent provision from September 2008? That is what is desperately required. I want a commitment from the Taoiseach that that will happen.

I visited the Deputy's area on a few occasions recently and attended the opening of the new school in Hartstown. I spoke to teachers from a number of schools in the area and am aware of the pressures and the school needs of communities in rapidly developing areas, particularly Dublin West and mid-west where the population is growing dramatically.

Whatever about setting up a special unit, I assure the Deputy that priority is being given to school building projects in the area. I spoke to some of the officials concerned after my recent visit. A new school for Mary Mother of Hope national school in Littlepace is ahead of schedule and is due to open in September. There are two new schools, the Educate Together national school in Castleheaney and St. Benedict's national school on the site in Ongar. Extension projects for schools in Castleknock and Corduff in Blanchardstown are being progressed. A site has been secured for a new Educate Together national school in Tyrrellstown and that building will be provided as soon as possible.

Several extra new primary schools for the area are being developed and are at various stages of planning. Is there a particular one the Deputy wants to ask me about? I was given a long list of schools. There is a permanent building for a new 1,000 student post-primary school in Phibblestown. That will not be ready until the start of the academic year in two years' time. The Department is considering enabling the school to open before then in temporary accommodation because two years is a long time in that context.

A site has been reserved for a further post-primary school in Tyrrellstown and the Department, with the local authority, is examining site possibilities for a new post-primary school in the Castleknock area. The education reservation in the Hansfield SDZs allows for the development of a post-primary school for up to 1,000 pupils. A project manager has recently been appointed to oversee the development of education provision on the Hansfield site. There is spare capacity in two post-primary schools in the Dublin 15 area and the Department is satisfied that there are sufficient places to cater for current demand, even though every pupil may not secure a place in their school of first choice, which is a difficulty in the area. Enormous attention is being given to the area and new schools will be provided because of growing class sizes.

On the question of developers, I and a number of Members of the House were in Adamstown, where a few hundred people are living, to open a railway station in advance of the development of the area. I also saw the final stages of the school building, to be opened in September, in advance of people coming to live in the area. Building schools side by side with houses or in advance of houses, as in this case, is the proper approach. Politicians on all sides congratulated the developer in Adamstown on his initiative in driving ahead and exceeding the commitments into which he had entered to provide educational facilities. If more developers took that approach we would not have to play catch-up as we do in some areas.

If the Deputy wants to know about any other area, I will have it checked out. The officials gave me a long list of advancements and developments. There are probably more in this area than anywhere else in the country, not that they are not necessary given the enormous number of new houses in west and mid-west Dublin. The ones I mentioned are the main ones.

Schools, railway stations etc. should be in place before the people arrive to take up residence in new communities. We knew that 15 or 20 years ago, and the fact that it is being done in the dying days of this Administration in one area is no vindication of the ten years the Government has been in power. The list the Taoiseach gave me in regard to west Dublin refers to catch-up provision of facilities. Hundreds of children will still have no classrooms to go to in September and that is the issue I want addressed.

Spare capacity in the area means spare capacity in a primary school miles away from where the children live. Given the traffic crisis and gridlock in Dublin West, and the pressure parents are under to get to work, crèches etc., it is not viable for them to cart their children around the area. The same applies to Meath and Kildare. The pressure on school places has some very negative features. It can set parent against parent on the basis of geography, length of time residing in an area and whether people are renting or have bought, and even, perhaps, on the basis of national origins. That is very worrying.

The 29th Dáil is in its swan song days. The Taoiseach's reply will, perhaps, be his swan song, as far as Leaders' Questions go. Will he give me an assurance that this September in the areas I have mentioned there will be a classroom in their local community for every child in primary school and a place in secondary school in their community for every pupil needing to start there next September? Nothing less is required.

First, to correct the Deputy on a factual point, we currently have the largest school building programme in the history of the State. If one looks back on recent years, in the 1994 to 1999 period, €659 million was spent on the school capital programme, whereas in the past six years we have spent more than €2 billion.

That is meaningless. The population has increased by 25% or 30%.

Please, Deputy.

Deputy Joe Higgins should allow the Taoiseach to reply.

The population has increased——

The population has quadrupled.

——by 16%.

The Labour Party built the two post-primary schools in this area when we were in Government. That is the reality.

The Deputy should allow the Taoiseach to answer the question.

The Labour Party did nothing in education.

The Labour Party built the two post-primary schools in the area. Fianna Fáil did not build any schools.

Deputy Burton is not a member of Deputy Joe Higgins's Socialist Party.

It is a minority party.

In the six-year period to which I referred, €659 million was spent, while under my watch we have increased that to more than €2 billion.

The score is 2:0.

That represents more than 6,500 new and modernised school buildings. We used to build——

There are still not enough.

I know Deputies do not want to hear this——

The Government has not delivered. Vote it out.

The Taoiseach should be allowed to speak without interruption.

——but we moved from completing approximately 30 projects a year to a position where in the 2000 to 2005 period we spent €2 billion——

The score in favour of the Labour Party is 2:0.

——on 6,500 school buildings, which is historically high compared to anything that was ever achieved previously.

It is not enough.

Nothing is ever enough but I am just giving the factual position that spending was increased by 400%. Under the 2006 budget we have provided just short of €4 billion to be invested in capital projects over the next five years.

That does not mean anything to a child who does not have a school place. The Taoiseach should meet the parents and tell them.

This Government has achieved a major success and nobody can argue with that.

If the Deputy does not wish to listen, she can leave the House.

On Deputy Joe Higgins's second point, I have given the schools and I have said the——

The Taoiseach did not give us the schools. That is the problem.

I am trying to answer Deputy Joe Higgins's question. If Deputy Burton wanted to ask this question she should have asked her leader to ask it instead of the one he asked about voting machines. Unfortunately, her party is opposed to technology. As it did in 2006, the Department conducted a survey of——

One does not need technology to work out the score on this; it is Fianna Fáil zero, the Labour Party, two.

I ask Deputy Burton to allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

——all the primary schools in Dublin 15 to determine the number of junior infants who had enrolled from September 2007. This survey indicates a considerable number of children enrolled in more than one school. While I understand this from the parents' point of view, it also resulted in inflating the number of children seeking school places. Notwithstanding this, the Department of Education and Science is aware that extra accommodation is needed for September and it will make this available.

I assure Deputy Joe Higgins that all of the options he has raised will be considered to ensure there are enough school places in September. This will include the provision of school transport if necessary. The Department has assured me it is well aware of the difficulties and problems, notwithstanding what I said. I assure Deputy Joe Higgins the Department is doing its best to resolve the matter.