Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording us the opportunity to speak on this issue. I will begin by describing the location of the school, which is at the edge of a RAPID area. As Deputy O'Connor has stated, its catchment covers an area which contains hundreds of apartments, and people are still moving in at the moment. The area has seen significant changes in recent years, and one in three of the houses in the area is rented.

The school is a microcosm of the community, which has itself been through significant change. Some of the changes have been positive, others have been negative. We have heard much about the new challenges facing Irish society and the education system in particular. We have heard talk of multiculturalism and a plural society, integrating people from different cultures, etc. This process needs extra resources and commitment.

I am asking for a commitment from the Minister to consider the special circumstances of this school. What happens in this school will reflect on the relationships both within the school and without. I am not trying to create a scare, but that is a factor which must be taken into account by the Department.

Approximately 50 countries are represented in the school. Six of the 24 classrooms have been divided. Deputy O'Connor spoke of the two prefabs, but these were closed down by the Health and Safety Authority — not the school — because of their condition. The authority stated that the prefabs were unsafe.

Much money has been spent on the school in recent years, but there is talk of converting the music room into a classroom, not specifically for music. There is also talk of putting a false ceiling in the school. The library has been removed, and pupils are being taught within the library space itself.

Will this case be like the school I mentioned before in Donegal, where children with special needs were being taught in an adult toilet? Will that scenario face the children in this school? Parents have asked us as local representatives to do everything in our power to stress to the Minister over the coming period, before September, that there will be no room in the school for their children.

It has been suggested that these children should go to other schools in the area. The problem for the parents is to get the children to the alternative schools. Many of the parents who have approached me have lived all their life in the area and attended the school themselves. They feel they have some rights, as taxpayers and as people who have been committed to that community all their lives. Is it too much to ask that their kids be allowed go to that school?

There is an accommodation crisis in the school and it will get more difficult as the years go by. Certainly, there is a need for extra classrooms. It will affect not only the junior school but also the senior school because there is a roll-on effect.

While this is called the Adjournment debate and no doubt the Minister probably has her answer written out in front of her, this matter needs to be looked at seriously. If at all possible, someone should speak not only to the school principal and the board of management but to the people who live in that community and have a role in the future of the school.

There is significant support for these new families. Like everyone, I am worried about the effect that this may have on community relationship in the school. That is not posing threats or anything else, but dealing with the reality of what is there at present.

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