Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

The recent and impending cuts in the education field are of concern to everybody on both sides of this House. In this case it is encouraging that there is a potential solution on the horizon. I wanted to bring this matter to the House and put it on the record. I intend to speak to the Minister directly in the coming weeks.

There is a profound and severe lack of primary school places in the Donnybrook parish area. There is huge pressure on St. Mary's national school, which is located on Belmont Avenue, for a number of reasons. I understand in the current school year some 60 pupils were turned away - they were just the ones who went to the bother of applying for a place. It is well known in the area that there is major pressure for places for junior infants on the school. The reason is that a school in Miltown was closed due to the sale of institutional lands there. There is no English-speaking primary school within the parish of Beechwood, so there is major pressure from neighbouring parishes to access places in St. Mary's school.

It is an excellent school of the highest possible quality, with excellent teaching staff and very encouraging results, but there is huge pressure on it. There is an onus on the Department of Education and Science to find a solution, that is, an alternative site for the school. It has been sanctioned for an upgrade, although I do not know if the funding for it will come down the track. An extension was sanctioned for the school to be built upwards as the existing site is inadequate and cannot be expanded in terms of square footage. However, that is currently parked.

Even if it were to go ahead, it is not a satisfactory solution because there is no space to expand the play area. The idea of accepting additional students to school which does not have the facilities to accommodate them is not a realistic solution. However, there is a potential solution. RTE has a massive site comprising 32 acres in Donnybrook and is currently proposing that Dublin City Council agree to rezone the site from Z15 for institutional use to Z10, a much broader use, to enable it to develop its lands and allow for the development of commercial, retail and residential units on the site.

There is an opportunity because RTE is very keen to develop the site and there seems to be a willingness from it to entertain the idea of giving something back to community. There is not only a willingness and a preparedness to do that, but there is also an obligation under the Planning Acts that there be community gain through the process of any such development. In this area the form of community gain, which would be recognised as essential by all parties and almost all of the local residents, would be a school, which is a top priority. This is not something which has been proposed by parents of children in the school but by all generations, young and old. Everybody identifies this as a real crisis issue for the area and one for which there is a potential solution at hand.

There is an obligation for community gain. Having had discussions directly with RTE and the city councillors for the area, I found there is a willingness to examine the proposal. We now need some sort of action. The Minister for Education and Science, Deputy O'Keeffe, has a very important role in recognising that there is an opportunity to secure a site for the area and there is a need for him to be proactive, creative and seek a solution to the problem and challenges which face the area in terms of the primary school. The opportunity presents itself in terms of RTE and the onus is now on the Department of Education and Science and the Minister for Education and Science to be proactive in the area and speak with RTE. The barriers between Departments should not be allowed to cause an unnecessary blockage in the system.

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