Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

They do not have a choice. What choice have people in Dublin 15? Some 8,000 new homes have been built in the past nine years. The parents of 200 children, who are due to begin junior infants classes next September, have been told there is no place available at the local primary schools. Such schools have been on departmental building and expansion lists for years. Even a small amount of forward planning could have provided a far greater school capacity for the children of this rapidly growing area and could have provided them with a school, not to mention a choice.

However, as with all aspects of the Government's forward planning, the Administration has again been found to be seriously wanting. These capacity problems are replicated in many commuter belt towns around Dublin, in counties Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Wexford and in my constituency, as well as around our other large cities. I wish to focus on that issue. I assume every Member, or most Members, recently completed census forms and returned them to census enumerators. In the run up to the census, we were bombarded with advertisements in the media informing us that the information to be returned was critical for the future planning of essential services. However, many people question why this Government has apparently ignored the growing need for school places in areas of considerable population growth. They want to know why, when sanction was given for enormous housing estates on the perimeter of Dublin city, consideration was not given to the availability of school places. It is clear that many of those now living in commuter belt housing estates are young people who are gaining their first foothold on the property ladder and people who are beginning families. I cannot understand why a clear and realistic assessment of school places was not made at the time planning permission for new housing estates was granted.

Our current problems also result from the fact that decisions regarding new school building and investment are often made according to political, rather than educational, needs. The former Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Noel Dempsey, attempted to introduce a greater degree of transparency into the school building programme by making information available on the Department's website. However, the situation has now changed and there is a lack of transparency and clarity about the working of the school building programme.

Radical change is now needed. Many schools are in very poor physical condition; overcrowding is endemic, particularly in schools in commuter areas; and hundreds of children are denied a place at their local school. I agree with Deputy O'Sullivan that the structure of the school building programme must be changed. The application procedure for new building and refurbishment works is labyrinthine. Schools languish for years on building lists, with no work being sanctioned. With reform of the programme, schools would better understand how to apply for assistance and how long it would take for their application to be assessed and rated according to real priority.

In addition, every school, once its application has been assessed, should know its place on the programme and the timescale for its improvement works. Some schools have been forced to wait for improvement works for many years and have received little or no clarification from the Department as to when they can expect funding. This arrangement is not good enough and must be changed.

It is clear that we must reform the procedures for establishing new schools. Deputy O'Sullivan noted that the Department has traditionally taken a very hands-off approach to the provision of new schools, relying on motivated parents and members of the public to band together and begin a new school, which may, at some later date, gain recognition from the Department. The system is not working.

We do not have time to allow school developments to continue at the traditional slow and unsteady pace in areas like the outskirts of Dublin and other major cities which have experienced a considerable and relatively sudden increase in population. The Department must become proactive when planning the development of schools and the provision of places. In particular, we should evaluate the schools needs of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, focusing on the demand for school places within the commuter belts.

The commission on school accommodation established by the Department should assume the responsibility for assessing demographic change, the age profile of residents in these urban areas and the number of children of school going age to a far greater degree. Much of this information is available through the census but it must be applied in a proactive fashion and used to provide new school places.

The commission should then advise on the provision of new multi-denominational schools in areas of growing demand for school places. This would mean the issue of school places could be addressed proactively, rather than reactively, as is currently the case. It would also permit a greater degree of flow into multi-denominational schools and so create additional space in existing schools. This work could be carried out by the commission but it would need to work at a much faster pace and requires adequate resources and reform to do so.

Action must be taken on foot of commission reports to the Department. The Murray report on school accommodation in my constituency in County Laois reported that Scoil Iosaif Naofa and Scoil Phádraig Naofa in Mountmellick required two additional classes and lacked proper indoor recreational facilities. These schools have been forced to slice sections of corridors to provide additional classroom spaces. Children with special educational needs are still being taught in school corridors, not even in sectioned off places. Scoil Phádraig Naofa has been forced to turn away children from junior infants this year but this is only prolonging the problem. A total of 900 new houses have been built in Mountmellick in the past five years, while 700 more are in the pipeline. The situation is at crisis point.

We should consider the choice facing parents of these children. It is not an exaggeration to say that every school in the area is full. Children in Portlaoise, which is six miles from Mountmellick, are in the same boat. I know of children who must travel 16 miles to primary school in Clonaghadoo in County Offaly because they cannot obtain places at schools within that radius in County Laois. However, schools in north Offaly, where Clonaghadoo is located, are in the same boat. Edenderry, which is the first stop-off for commuters, has grown phenomenally in the past five years. When the census is published, the town's population is expected to be in the region of 9,000. It is one of the fastest growing towns in the country but last week, the Department described an application for the establishment of a new co-educational school as premature. Our motion attempts to address this type of attitude. We must plan ahead. I am not talking about planning for ten years into the future; I am talking about planning for next year.

Schools in Edenderry are full. Fr. Walsh, who drew up the application for the new school, was supported by all local organisations and groups and the GAA facilitated the school by offering a temporary site. This is what we should look for. Tullamore, which is 22 miles down the road, is in the same position. In the past two years, two post-primary schools there have been forced to turn away students. The situation was eventually resolved but the schools are still operating at over-capacity.

See this speech in context