Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

It is a pity the Minister for Education and Science is not here as my comments are addressed to her in particular, but the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, being a Dublin Minister, might be aware of Inchicore and of the emergency resulting from the disgraceful decision by the Christian Brothers to close St. Michael's CBS in June. I do not believe the Minister for Education and Science is fully aware of the consequences of such a closure.

The school is located in one of the most disadvantaged estates in Dublin. Most of the estate has been demolished pending regeneration and that is a recognition of the need to address a problem which existed. The school is contained within historic buildings and is part of the Richmond Barracks complex. Ninety years ago tomorrow, the leaders and volunteers of the army of the Irish Republic, including, I presume, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform's grand-uncle, were held and court-martialled there in one of the buildings which still exists, the gymnasium.

The school has been and is intended to be part and at the heart of the regeneration of this community. It is a small school with 67 or 69 pupils and given that small number, it is a model of good practice. It has small classes and individual attention is provided when and if required by some of the pupils who are better because of it. The new principal was hoping to add the school, the programme of work and the teaching environment in the school.

For the teachers, parents and young children at the school, last Tuesday's announcement was a bolt out of the blue. The teachers will have no jobs at the end of June and the parents will have no school to which to sent their children in September. What is required is for the Department and the Minister to step in to ensure the school is kept open, whether under the Department's control or that of another sponsor group. The Department should make itself aware of the regeneration plans which include building 137 family homes next to the school within the next year followed by 583 other homes. Obviously, within a year or two those families will be looking for schools in the locality in which to place their children. None of the other local schools has capacity to take the new people who will be coming into the area or even the existing pupils. There are no sites left in Inchicore on which to build a new school or even the secondary school required in Inchicore.

The Minister has responsibility in this regard because what is the point regenerating an area if one of the central planks of it, namely, educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, is removed? The Minister should invite the parents and board of management to a meeting immediately to ensure the school continues and is viable into the future.

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