This issue is critical, particularly in the context of our need to deliver housing across the State. If we are to deliver homes, we must ensure that we have in place critical energy infrastructure and water and wastewater infrastructure. The first question the person in charge of every State agency should be asking every morning is what is he or she doing to help to address the housing crisis. If those people are not asking that question, their vision is clearly wrong and perhaps they are in the wrong job. I can cite many examples in my constituency where if we can see the unlocking of lands through investment in roads, water, wastewater and energy, it will facilitate the building of a lot more housing. I refer again to the cases of Ferns and Camolin in County Wexford, where we are dying to build more homes but where there is no wastewater capacity. It is a similar situation in Aughrim, County Wicklow. Allowing private development of wastewater treatment plants to the necessary specifications in those areas would be a very positive development. Investment in education is a critical part of infrastructure delivery. I acknowledge that the Government has invested significantly in capital projects in education but I am extremely disappointed that in the announcement today regarding the schools building programme under the NDP, not a single school within the Wicklow-Wexford constituency is included in the list. What criteria were used to determine which schools were included? Two schools have been waiting a very long time for the necessary investment to move beyond stage 2b. I have always referred to that stage as the purgatory within the Department of education, whereby projects get to design stage but then tenders are not issued. The first school is Bunclody Community College, which has only three mainstream classes that are not in prefabricated buildings. The school operates on two campuses, which requires students to walk 500 m from one set of prefabricated buildings to another. It is an excellent school that provides a top-class education, yet it has some of the poorest facilities I have ever seen. The other school, which is just up the road, is Coláiste Bhríde in Carnew. Again, it is an excellent school but it has been waiting a long time to address the problem that its 900 students are learning in completely inadequate buildings. I have asked what criteria were used to determine which schools were included in today's announcement. Only one school in County Wexford and three in County Wicklow, none of them in my constituency, are included. Fair play to the schools that are getting this investment but I note that ten schools in County Galway were given approval today. I need to know the criteria, particularly when I see the conditions under which some students and staff have to operate within my constituency. I would be grateful if the Minister of State would convey my concerns to the Department. The Government has a proud record of investing in education and in our capital programmes but we are not seeing that investment being delivered fairly across the country. I fail to see why regard is not being had to the demands of rapidly growing communities and constituencies such as Wicklow-Wexford.

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