Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The all-Irish school model is well established in north Kildare, with the first primary school established in 1979. There are three all-Irish primary schools in the north-eastern part of the county, in Kilcock, Maynooth and Leixlip. In September this year they will have to refuse admission to just short of 200 pupils. They are very successful schools. Six classes of sixth class - rang a sé - will be finishing in June and there is insufficient post-primary provision for them. Cóláiste Cois Life was developed as a regional school. It is popular in Lucan and pupils from two primary schools in Lucan will take up all the available places in Cóláiste Cois Life from next year with the result that no children from north Kildare will be admitted because of the enrolment policy. Modern prefabs are in place. Short, medium and long-term strategies need to be put in place and we have made proposals. I met the Minister several times last week and I gave him the numbers for each of the schools.

Approval is awaited from the building unit for a third stream in the all-Irish school in Kilcock. This proposal is stalled at a time when the baby boom is producing the children and the parents desire this type of education. It is not a fad and it has been a consistent desire since 1979. It is a choice that has to be met. The kind of choices we debate are exclusively restricted to the issue of religious patronage. Parents want to make different choices and they are choosing with their feet. Some 197 students in north Kildare are not being accommodated where there is a desire to have them accommodated. There is something going wrong with the planning for those children and this needs to righted by the Department.

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