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

I will respond directly to what Deputy Harris said, which might be a bit more constructive. We have a growth in population that will not peak until 2026. The problem is aggravated in many areas, including the area to which Deputy Harris referred, for all the normal reasons, but it will take time to put a response in place to my satisfaction and that will require support and confidence from the educational partners. What is required is some form of co-ordinated regional planning at local authority level or education and training board level to see what resources exist and what can be utilised. While we have a system of forward planning, there has been a significant population increase in the area to which Deputy Harris referred and the growth is happening at a faster speed. Deputy Harris might talk to the local authorities on the matter, to his party’s councillors and, following the local elections, the new education and training boards.

The second issue relates to admissions policy and enrolment which is currently unsatisfactory. A total of 80% of schools have the accommodation to offer a place to parents who apply to the 3,200 primary schools and approximately 800 post-primary schools, but 20% are oversubscribed in terms of their capacity to offer a place. Added to that, there is no proper system of waiting list or regulations. I have a document on admissions policy in draft form which I hope to get finalised and to bring before the House. It was a consultative document which has already gone to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection. The suggestion is that people who move within the country or come to the country for the first time are excluded from local schools because they are not in the know and they do not realise that in some cases when a child is born one must have his or her name put down on a waiting list for school X or Y. The policy of first come, first served seems like an objective and reasonable one without favouritism for parents seeking education for their children, but it does provide a very strong advantage to parents who live in a particular area who know that they have to register their child for primary school education in virtually the week the child is born, and even then there is no guarantee of a place. We have not even begun to tackle the issue of getting a child into a school whose ethos is one parents want. That is another issue that requires discussion.

I suggest to Deputy Harris that the Department is more than happy to liaise, and does liaise, with local authorities, but the way forward is to get the education and training boards, in conjunction with the Department and local authorities, to work together. In the coming weeks 12 members of the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board will be nominated by the local councillors and there will be two staff members and five other representative members. That is the way forward in terms of planning and making sure that we are making the best use of the existing space in the educational infrastructure.

I do not wish to sound as if the Department has a grand plan to take over the private patronage role of the schools. It does not, but we must ensure co-ordinated planning that provides and ensures space is available. We are not in a position to do that as satisfactorily as we would like.

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