Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Deputy's comments and his recognition of what we are trying to do. Part of the problem is that the GIS registers the physical location of every child benefit payment for those aged one, two and three years of age. It works accurately and satisfactorily in certain areas, for example, outside a town like Clonakilty or Donegal town, where we have a fair idea what the growing population is and what the likelihood is of the numbers that will present in the nearest urban area. In a large urban area like Dublin, there are people who have moved to the suburbs. Some of these may have grown up in the inner city area and they may wish to bring their children back in to the city centre, which they are entitled to do, since the grandparents are providing support after school. Therefore, our ability to measure and capture the numbers of people looking for places in big urban areas, whether in Cork, Limerick, Galway or Dublin, is self-evidently less clear and less sophisticated than in different parts of the country where the growth in demand can only be accommodated in the area most likely to accommodate it and where people are unlikely to travel miles in another direction.

Notwithstanding that, the increase in the numbers has, to a certain extent, caught us by surprise and we are considering emergency measures to get extra accommodation. Deputy Murphy has referred to some of these. We have had one setback in respect the amalgamation of St. Brigid's and St. Mary's schools on Haddington Road. Planning permission and so on was secured in the normal way but then an appeal was lodged in the past working day, which is perfectly valid. People are perfectly entitled to so do. There are difficulties with traffic. We hope the appeals process can be expedited as quickly as possible. I thank the Deputy for bringing the matter to the attention of the House because it is an issue. I will communicate with him and other colleagues in the constituency.

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