Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My colleagues have outlined the situation for the 74 children. The school covers four constituencies, including my own with 12 children coming from the Tallaght area. As other speakers have said, it is not about lobbying for a constituency school; the Minister gets those letters every day of the week and I understand the pressure he is under. This school is unique in the difficulties that are facing the children. The children themselves have multiple disabilities in many cases, including physical and other impairments. In their short lives, they have faced significant challenges and will probably face even more as they move into the future. The difficulties for electrical equipment and even for two wheelchair users to pass each other in the corridors have been described. In order to get from one end of the school to the other, some children have to go outside the school altogether, out onto the path. The school is located down in a back alley or laneway, which makes it difficult to drop off the children at school. It is made up of prefabs. There are a lot of problems.

There is plenty of land and there is agreement with South Dublin County Council. We are not just looking to serve our own constituencies here. We are asking the Minister to fast-track the work because of the profound challenges facing these children. It ticks all the boxes. I know there is a difficulty for the Minister in that if he does this for one school, the pressure is going to be on for another. I ask him to seriously consider this case, however. We have an opportunity to do something positive for these children and their families. I ask him to reflect on this in his answer.

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