Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree very much with the points made by the Deputies from the east Cork area and the pressures that exist there. I do not require a response on my next point, which is on patronage. It is something we will really have to consider. It is very clear that the process for identifying new patrons creates difficulties for Irish medium schools. If we rely on new schools to do so we will not deliver the diversified schools estate that we need, particularly in terms of Irish medium education to which people have an entitlement. We must ensure every child in the country has the opportunity to access Irish medium education. It is to some extent the case at primary level but it is certainly not the case at post-primary level. We also have the issue of religious ethos and multidenominational access. We will have to consider how we do this because as things stand the divestment process, which does not even address the language issue, will not deliver the type of change that we need.

I have raised the issue of school planning areas and a peculiar issue can sometimes arise when a school is at the boundary of a planning area. Some local children can lose out when such a school is oversubscribed. This is a problem that can be anticipated in some instances. Obviously it is not a problem where a school is not oversubscribed. Where we have a school at the edge of a school planning area some parts of the local area can conceivably miss out.

We speak about pressure on school places. This is not specifically the responsibility of the Department but it is about co-ordination between Departments. The pressure on early years places and childcare places, as the Department knows, is absolutely savage. There is huge benefit and logic to co-locating early years services and childcare services. In some instances this develops organically over the course of time. Is it something the Department tries to factor in? We have spoken about sites that have challenges but does the Department try to factor in access to early years education? Does it speak to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth about it?