Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegation and the parents from the De La Salle school. I have some experience of the matter under discussion and I met Ms McDonagh at her office. I have also exchanged telephone calls, letters and so on. What struck me in my first interface with the archdiocese was rather different from what I am hearing today. I remember making the statement that parents must be the primary partners in the education process, and the impression I got from the outset was that if parents are the primary partners, they must be brought on board at the very beginning and consulted, and their views must be taken on board so as to be factored into any decisions. I did not get that impression, but rather the idea that parents would be told when a decision was made by the archdiocese. Essentially, they would be factored out of the negotiations. Parents in Ballyfermot never gave me the impression that they were being consulted from an early stage or that they understood the rationale and reason behind this. There has been enormous confusion, anger and worry among parents. No parent wants any undue interference in the education of children, particularly when they are doing well.

The archdiocese proposes the amalgamation of four schools into two schools. The outlandish dimension is that among those four schools, the best is the De La Salle school. Architecturally it is one of the finest school buildings in Dublin city, and it has one of the finest campuses, as it is spacious and ample, with football pitches and sporting facilities for young, energetic people to run around. These are critical in the development of children. It also has enormous resources inside the buildings, and parents have worked tirelessly over generations with the principal and staff to build these so that the needs of children would be met. Nevertheless, the proposal is to put an end to this school, despite its being one of the anchors of education in Ballyfermot.

It is a disgrace that someone sitting in Archbishop's House could make that decision against the profound sentiments and wishes of parents, and wishes of the whole community. It does not make any sense. If one must amalgamate and reconfigure, surely one keeps the strongest cards, one keeps the best buildings, one keeps the buildings with the best traditions, best resources and the best facilities. That, I think, is logical. What is being proposed here is that the best is being excluded and four schools are being pushed into a campus in which one can barely swing a cat. It is an outlandish proposal. I invite the committee to look at the terrain and campus.