Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

Amendment No. 39 deals with an issue that concerns all of us who are living in the area. It is a question that we have been dealing with for some time. It was always envisaged that Dublin 7 Educate Together would be part of the final solution of the Grangegorman site. I, like Deputy Gregory, posed parliamentary questions from time to time to various Ministers for Education and I received similar replies to those given to my colleague.

The Department of Education and Science envisaged that the Educate Together school would be incorporated into the development. However, that is not specified anywhere in the legislation. Dublin 7 Educate Together has been something of an itinerant educational facility for a considerable time. It has moved from various locations. Thanks to the good will of the Bar Council, it was located in Henrietta Street and then the School for the Deaf on the Navan Road provided it with accommodation. However, the facilities were always cramped and always of a temporary nature, as the school was in place because of the goodwill of the organisations that took it in. Now we have an opportunity to provide it with a permanent base.

I have organised a number of meetings on this issue, one of which took place immediately after the announcement of the development of the Grangegorman site. The DIT and Educate Together sent representatives to that meeting and everybody, including local residents, was in favour of the proposal that the school would be facilitated at Grangegorman. It is important that provision is made in the legislation and that Educate Together is mentioned explicitly because the other facilities for education and health are mentioned in the Bill. There is no reference to this primary educational facility and I urge the Minister to accept the amendment or to explicitly state elsewhere in the Bill that Educate Together, Dublin 7, will be facilitated.

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