Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)

No. It has increased. There are many new apartments and many new well-educated young people moving in and bringing up their families in the area. However, they do not necessarily send their children to school in the area.

I have many concerns including the reduction in the capitation grant. I understand that we must make choices and I have said as much myself. One school is between 60 and 70 years old and has rising damp. All the classrooms were used at one stage but it cannot afford to use all of them now because it does not have the same number of students as before. The summer grant and minor works grant are gone. Those involved are left with the dilemma of whether to heat all or half of the school. How do they cut the heating in the other half when it is all connected to the one routing service? The small summer grants for these schools have been cut and this puts them in a worse position. The standards in the buildings should be rising not falling. It is very difficult to heat many schools in my area now. In one of the schools which uses prefabs a large building is being built. However, as the Minister is aware, the project came to a halt because two developers are not on site now. This is a real issue.

I speak as someone who was born, reared and who went to school there. We are left with a dilemma in my parish and community and throughout Dublin South-Central because DEIS programme schools are not attracting the numbers they did in the past. I realise I am digressing from the Bill but I call on the Minister to consider how we can protect these schools and perhaps give them the extras they need rather than label them. Labelling schools is wrong for young children and it leaves many of them isolated in their communities. Many families and parents to whom I have spoken believe it is wrong to label schools and our children. This has been a growing concern of mine for several years.

All my children went to DEIS programme schools and they all received a wonderful education at them. I cannot speak highly enough of the teachers. I have served on two of the boards and the parents' committee as well. Something must happen now to make a difference to these schools. We cannot expect schools with numbers of 600 or 400 to survive on the amount of money they receive at present. I offer one example. Recently, I was at a meeting where I learned that a school in one area earned €172 in a cake sake. Another school in a more affluent area in my constituency took in €1,300 in a cake sale. There is something wrong with that imbalance. I welcome the changes but we should be aware that we are asking those involved to go to schools and deal with children who have difficulties - not all of them but some of them - and expect the school to stand on its own ground while the building is falling down around them.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to digress but it is important. I have spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, on this issue. We must reconsider how we identify schools in RAPID programme areas at this stage.

See this speech in context