The Strangford MLA stated: "The report of the Public Accounts Committee is shocking but unfortunately not surprising, as we see teachers and pupils left to fend for themselves in buildings entirely unfit for purpose.

“The safety of students and staff should be the top priority for the Education Minister and his department. Every child deserves to be educated in a safe and secure environment fit for learning. 

“However, the fact is that while pet projects have been taken forward by the Minister, strategic management of the school estate has been ignored. We still lack any concrete plans for reform despite ongoing and significant declines in school numbers. 

"When hard questions are asked about the spending on and prioritisation of minor capital works projects, the Minister deflects and distracts, but doesn't address the lack of confidence in how strategically and fairly stretched capital budgets are spent.

"There are hard decisions ahead, not least around budgets, right- sizing the school estate and tackling the cost of division in education. We can't continue to kick the can down the road, for as long as we do, school dilapidation will be the inevitable result."