Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Hundreds of children in Dublin 15 have no school place for this coming September and the reason is simple. Thousands of houses have been built in the Littlepace and Castleknock areas in the past five years but no provision has been made for school places for all the new families moving into the area.

Now we face another Groundhog Day, another round of crisis meetings to secure places for around 200 children who could not be accommodated in the first round of offers.

I want to take a positive approach in addressing this crisis as I am interested only in resolving this issue for once and for all. Next year's parents cannot be put through the same distress and upset that parents have experienced recently, year on year, in Dublin 15, indeed for the full tenure of this Government, nine years. There is a clear and pressing need to commit to a full new primary school in the Ongar-Littlepace area over and above the two schools already established, to complete the permanent buildings for the Castaheaney Educate Together primary school currently based in prefabs and facing another year in them, to build an extra primary school in Castleknock and to provide a new secondary school in the Castaheaney-Clonee area to cater for families in houses built ten years ago in the area.

To resolve this crisis I am calling for a round table conference of all school principals with county council and education officials. It is not good enough to have a conference with selected principals from the Minister of State's office in Marlborough Street. That does not impress me, particularly when the people in Tullamore cannot give answers.

I am also calling for a proper assessment of needs for the next five to ten years in line with expected new housing and the immediate purchase of sites for the new schools that will be required in Castaheaney. The Minister of State should tell us now how many sites and which sites have been acquired. I have received replies from the Minister for the past four years and she is still shilly-shallying about acquiring the sites.

Last year a quick-fix solution was found when the Minister was faced with a full-scale revolt from parents and the whole community. This year, in response to my recent parliamentary questions, the Minister acknowledged the extent of the crisis, referring yesterday to "the unabating increase in demand for pupil places" in Dublin 15. The poor woman sounds surprised. Extending existing schools, while welcome, is not enough. The Minister plans for Dublin West to have many primary schools of 1,000 pupils. With class sizes among the highest in the country, at more than 30 pupils, this is a shamefully inadequate response from a rich Government. We need more schools, particularly as new communities of 2,000 plus houses and apartments are being regularly built and more are planned. The interests of developers and their land deals cannot come before the interests of our children.

Judging by yesterday's reply, the Minister unfortunately continues to keep her head in the sand. Planning for these new schools has to start today. Our children want school places but they also need a quality education in permanent buildings with reasonable class sizes, not the vision of endless prefabs and over-full classrooms, which seems to represent what Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats consider good enough for Dublin 15. Unless this is provided, the Government will continue to fail the new communities in Clonee, Littlepace, Ongar, Hansfield, Diswellstown, Luttrelstown, Tyrellstown and the many other growth areas in Dublin 15.

We have been blessed in Dublin 15 with a remarkable range of teachers, school principals and managers. Only they have been able to keep the show on the road, with dedicated parents. I have many expectations from the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, in her approach to education, but she has not delivered for Dublin 15.

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