Under the education heading in the programme for Government, commitments were given on the schools building programmes. Many schools have extra pupils coming in September but no information has been received from the Department of Education and Skills about whether they will get extra rooms or temporary accommodation. It is causing significant issues nationally with regard to timetables and so forth. I presume that if there was good news, it would have been given out before the local elections. I refer in particular to Coláiste Mhuire in Buttevant which has a serious crisis in respect of the space available for the numbers coming in September.

On the same topic, it is a major issue in my county that Coláiste Mhuire has restricted the area from which it is accepting students for the coming year due to uncertainty as to whether it will get improved accommodation. The school is currently using staff quarters and the gym to create extra classrooms. I ask the Minister to come back to Deputy Michael Moynihan and me on the same issue.

On the related issue of primary schools, I refer, in particular, to the position of school secretaries. The Minister will be aware that there is a campaign seeking appropriate recognition of secretaries in primary schools by making them staff of the State and remunerating them appropriately. The secretaries of schools I know are paid poorly from the capitation grant and they have no security. In some cases, secretaries find themselves going between a number of national schools. It is not an appropriate way to manage our education system. Perhaps the Minister has some comments for the House on that issue.

If the Minister is not in a position to answer generally, I do not expect detail.

Generally, there is a major building programme to which schools have access. It moves in stages and people will know what stage they are at. It is dictated largely by passing various requirements in design and development of projects. The Department seeks to assess applications for additional accommodation in a timely manner and to provide responses to schools. In order to take the matter up, I would have to know the particular schools. The best approach is probably to contact the office of the Minister for Education and Skills on individual items. I am aware that trade union representatives have been presenting school secretaries' pay claim, but I do not have an update on where those discussions are.