Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to address the provision of second level school places in Midleton and the east Cork area. I have a script and I will give it to the Deputy, but let me talk to him frankly.

We have a serious crisis in education. There is a population cohort coming through our primary school system that is now beginning to manifest itself in the second level area. I would love the Deputy's support to identify areas of need. I was in the Cork East constituency just before the general election. I met people in Midleton and elsewhere to discuss the problems. I would be most willing to entertain any creative ideas the Deputy has. It is a real problem. In 2008 we had the highest birth rate since 1898 when families were much larger. Those youngsters who started to impact in the primary school system are now coming into first year and parents who can do the sums recognise exactly what the impact will be. I would like to sit down with the Deputy and perhaps the other Deputies in the Cork East constituency. For all sorts of reasons that the Deputy knows better than I do, because of the geography and location there is much greater growth on the east end of the Cork city area than there is on the west.

I will make sure the Deputy gets the text of the prepared reply, but it is in official Civil Service-ese. I would much sooner talk to him as one colleague to another to see how we can get more with less and how can we with small amounts of money expand some of the existing schools. However, new schools are needed. The Department estimates that 12 post-primary schools will be needed nationwide between now and 2016 each with 800 to 1,000 pupils. We have never been faced with those kinds of numbers and we have no model school design framework, which is something we will need to do. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter and he should feel free to come back to me on it.

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