John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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Ms McNally said that planning has worked, but it has not. It has failed. Forward planning has fundamentally failed. Wicklow is one example of that but there are many other examples across the State. I will quickly read a letter I got from a pupil in Wicklow only this Monday. It is very brief and says:

Hello, my name is [I am not going to give his name, for obvious reasons] and I go to St. Patrick's National School. I really love the school that I am in currently and I have made loads of friends since moving school. This year, I have to move school again since I am going to secondary school. The problem is that I do not have a place in a school yet. Every one of my friends do. I am the only one from both sixth classes in my school that does not have a place. This makes me feel a bit left out. I really hope that, in the future, I get a place in a secondary school close to home, like St. David's School or Temple Carrig School for example, and not one that is far away in Kilcoole. I hope that soon I will have a place in a secondary school and I am able to tell my friends and not have to worry about it anymore.

That is from a sixth class pupil and it is very evident as to how he, and many other pupils right across the State, not just in Greystones, have been failed. The system is not working. He is on a list. He is 78th on a list for St. David's School and 71st for Temple Carrig School.

Last week, the Taoiseach said he had solved the issue and that every child in that area now has a school place. This letter arrived on Monday. This pupil is one of at least 12 pupils in that area who are still without a school place. What does Ms McNally say to him, his parents and other parents and pupils in a similar situation who do not have a school place in Greystones and other places across the State? Does Ms she stand over her remark that the planning process in the Department is working?