Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to raise the urgent need for the new Minister for Education and Science to recognise the proposed Educate Together school in Dublin 15. This school is supported by hundreds of parents as the school of choice for their children in the Carpenterstown and Luttrellstown area of Dublin 15. Many of these parents have experienced great frustration in getting a place for their children in a local school. The previous Minister for Education and Science, in a change from long-standing education policy, refused recognition for this school. I urge the new Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to review as a matter of urgency the intense demand from parents for the recognition of their school. The former Minister for Education and Science refused the application because of her wish to pilot a new VEC-sponsored primary school in the area. The Minister chose to ignore the advice of the new schools advisory committee which recommended recognition of this Educate Together school.

There is a legally binding agreement between the Department of Education and Science and Educate Together, dating back to 12 July 2000, that the Department would retain a further reserved school site for Educate Together in return for the Castleknock Educate Together school agreeing, at the time, to move to a Department-owned site at Beechpark Avenue. Educate Together accepted this arrangement in good faith but expected to proceed in time with a further school in the Carpenterstown area to serve the huge population of children in the area along with other schools, such as a further local primary school, St. Patrick's, which is now open and will have close to 1,000 pupils quite soon. The Department of Education has planning permission for a 16-classroom school in the area in Porterstown. This is on a site which could easily accommodate two schools during the start-up phase as happened in Adamstown.

According to the Constitution, the Department of Education and Science must respect parental choice in respect of schools where this is expressed. There is no doubt that a sufficient number of parents in the area have chosen a multi-denominational Educate Together school for their children.

I understand that the appeal for the recognition of Carpenterstown Educate Together school will be heard shortly. The new Minister has an opportunity to gain an immense amount of goodwill from parents in the area. I believe that if he reviews the case for recognising Carpenterstown Educate Together school, he will concur with the recommendation of the new schools advisory committee and recognise the school.

Educate Together has an established 30-year record of facilitating parents who want multi-denominational education for their children, from all backgrounds, Irish and international. Educate Together, as with all other schools in Dublin 15, Catholic and Church of Ireland and Gaelscoileanna, take children from all backgrounds and from all nationalities. I note the Minister of State with responsibility for integration policy is present in the Chamber. I believe it is important that we have integrated education at primary level of all the children who live in Dublin 15. We do not want schools that are for international children only, as was the disastrous policy of the previous Minister for Education and Science. With many others I welcomed the announcement by the previous Minister that the VEC might be involved in primary education and would be established as a patron of primary education but that should not come at the expense of the right of Educate Together to continue as a patron of new primary schools. The ball is in the Minister's court. The previous Minister for Education and Science got it wrong. The consequences are that in Balbriggan and in Scoil Choilm there are schools where there are only international children. Educate Together has a proven track record of educating children together of all faiths and none and of children from all backgrounds, whether Irish or international. All our local traditional parish primary schools in Dublin West do that as well and do it superbly. The former Minister for Education and Science chose not to know the situation. There is an opportunity for the new Minister for Education and Science to open out to the parents, who are desperate for a school for their children. I urge the new Minister for Education and Science to avail of the opportunity to revisit the issue and grant recognition to this important school project.

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