James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I share the concerns of Senator McDowell in this regard. Gambling brings with it tremendous hardship and pain for families. I have known people to take their lives as well as suffer the consequences of the debt that they find themselves in.

I rise here today to thank the Minister for Education and Skills for coming to visit Skerries and Rush in the past few weeks. He brought positive news about the go-ahead being given for a permanent extension to the community college. The bottom line is that we have a pressing and immediate problem as there are no school places for many children in Skerries and Rush.The people of Skerries, in particular, are very concerned. The Minister very kindly pointed the way forward in terms of ensuring that the principals would come together under the auspices of the Department of Education and Skills to find a solution for some 60 children in the Skerries community area who have no place next year. Parents and children are frantic, and we need an immediate solution for next year. September of next year will be along before we know it. Parents are going to go through Christmas uncertain as to what lies ahead for their children. They want their kids to be able to go to the same school as their friends who they have been in school with for the last number of years. The clubs in Skerries want to ensure that they do not lose these children to other communities because they have to travel somewhere else to a secondary school.

What I am really asking for is for the Minister to ensure that this work starts as soon as possible before Christmas because this is not something that can wait. People need certainty. They have to make arrangements and decisions. I would also ask that the Minister consider a new school for the Skerries area because it is very clear that rather than resolving this issue, it will get worse as more houses are built in north Dublin.

I would be very grateful if the Minister would consider meeting the parents to reassure them. The most important thing now is to ensure the Department of Education and Skills gets the principals of the various schools in the area together and starts to address where children are going to go to school next September.