Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Page 89 of the programme for Government states:

We will publish new School Admissions and Excellence legislation taking account of current draft proposals (publication of school enrolment policies, an end to waiting lists, introduction of annual enrolment structures, and transparency and fairness in admissions for pupils). We will seek to enact this legislation for the start of school year 2017-18.

At the end of last year, the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016 went through Second Stage in the Dáil and has yet to be taken on Committee Stage. One point in respect of this that I would like to raise is capacity and how this affects school admissions. How will this Bill help parents in Fingal? I am raising this Topical Issue matter with the Minister given the incredible urgency that exists to increase capacity in Dublin Fingal and schools in north County Dublin where parents are being told that there are no places for their children in September. Parents are contacting me in large volumes. They are worried sick because they have nowhere to send their child. They are worried there are no places, that these children are too old for preschool placements and that there are no alternatives. Years after putting their children's names down, they are being told that, come September, their efforts will be redundant because there is no room and the children will not be admitted.

I live in the fastest growing county in the country. We have a growing young population which means that, effectively, this problem will only get worse. Obviously, I do not mean children are the problem. Children are lovely. I mean that the problem of where they are to be taught will get worse. I will read out some of the e-mails I have received. One related to a school in Swords. It stated:

We have a son already attending the school and our second son, who was 4 last December and will be ready for school in September. With this in mind and as he already has a sibling attending the school we assumed that he would automatically get his school place in September. We enrolled him with the school last month only to receive the news last Thursday that he was 24th on a waiting list of over 100 children for a place in the school. So basically he has no place in our local school ... We were also informed that our son has no place in his preschool in September because the pre-school were of the opinion he would be starting school in September. His place was offered to a younger child. He also misses out on his free pre-school place due to his age and date of birth.

Another e-mail involved a school in Balbriggan. It stated:

I have a daughter who will be 4 years of age on the 27th of February, 2017. We enrolled her last year. Today we received a letter to say they cannot offer her a placement for September as all placements were filled from category 2 of the Enrolment Policy. This category is in relation to child's age. The cut off is the end of March which she meets. Brothers and sisters of present pupils of the school, which she meets ... She is from the catchment area ... we have been here for 17 years and is Catholic. On phoning the school I was told that they had a lot of older children applying for places this year.

Problems are rolling over from one year to the next and are having knock-on effects. Problems getting one cohort into school in one year means these children are applying again the next year as older children thus preventing other children coming through from getting a place.

Will the Minister advise me as to what I should tell these people? I received another e-mail from parents who want to send their child to a Gaeilscoil. They are Gaeilgeoirí, something we should be encouraging. They have had their child's name down for three years and have just been informed there is no place. There is issue with under-capacity. I am sure it is not exclusive to my constituency but I believe it is a more acute problem there. I want to know what I can say to those people. Their children deserve a place in school. They have been diligent in terms of keeping up with the waiting lists. What am I to tell them?

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