Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

This is the time at which schools are informed that they may or may not lose teachers. In areas of disadvantage in Dublin where pupil numbers may be declining and rising elsewhere there are inevitable problems. St. Joseph's is the local primary school in East Wall and it has experienced considerable difficulties in this disadvantaged area. Much of the development which has taken place in the area, particularly in the docklands, has bypassed the school. It is only now, under pressure, that the docklands developers have acted on the commitment they made ten years ago to provide the infrastructure and development to bring about an uplift and rejuvenation to the community in conjunction with the local authority. This development is beginning to come on stream but, in the meantime, the school and its teachers have been informed that it will lose two teachers because of the decline in numbers. The Government's intention is to deprive the school of those two teachers.

My argument is that the school should retain those two teachers for a number of reasons. First, the loss of teachers to the school will be debilitating and unsatisfactory for staff, students, parents and the community in general. Second, enormous development is taking place in the general neighbourhood. Last week, the Taoiseach launched 75 social and affordable houses down the road which will be occupied by young families. The docklands developers have a commitment to develop 1,200 social and affordable houses in the next couple of years, all of which will be part of the parish of East Wall. At last the development is taking shape and there will be a lot of new blood in the area and young families with school-going children. However, the danger is that, in this interim limbo period, the school could lose the necessary teachers. The classes could double in size in some cases and become mixed. As a result, parents with children in the school may vote with their feet and send their children to other schools where the pupil-teacher ratio is better.

This is a serious situation which can only get worse if these two teachers are lost. If the school was part of Breaking the Cycle — it was not included in the pilot scheme — it would have a pupil-teacher ratio of 15:1. Its ratio is far higher and teachers in the school will have to teach classes where two grades are mixed together, which is not sustainable. The school will be in serious jeopardy if those two teachers are lost.

An appeal has been made but those appeals are not decided until mid-summer, when the Dáil is not sitting and there are no politicians around. The Minister for Education and Science should take into consideration the enormous development taking place in the area. East Wall was an isolated community but it is about to become a burgeoning area which desperately needs a primary school. It will have more children than it can cope with in the years to come and it would be a shame if the school's ability to go forward was undermined by the loss of two teachers.

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