Pledge to principals ‘unwise’

THE Department of Education has admitted it was unwise for former Minister for Education Michael Woods to promise principals, prior to the last general election, that schools would be built within a certain time period.

The Department’s accounting officer told the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) John Purcell that it was imprudent to make these guarantees to schools.

This follows a controversial move by Mr Woods to inform several schools they were included on the 2002 school building programme. The CAG took a detailed look at expenditure on school buildings in 2002 after some guarantees made by the Government weren’t honoured.