Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

Will the Minister, therefore, not agree notwithstanding the mechanics of the referendum and amount of taxpayers' money that was spent by Wexford VEC, that she has denied parental choice in Gorey where there are now two schools under the one patronage? Here was a classic example of offering choice in terms of patronage, which is the issue. In this instance we are speaking of one of the largest post-primary schools in the country, which is functioning well. We need another school because of the population increase, which the Minister says will be 67,000 extra pupils by 2020.

In a town like Gorey, which is in the outer suburbs of the east coast metropolis, stretching from Wexford to Dundalk, the Minister could have given parental choice without going through this elaborate time wasting process. She could simply have acknowledged Gorey has one VEC at post-primary level, which is a good school, and could have given patronage of the other school to another body, Education Together which has a proven track record.

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