Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The need for diversity and pluralism within the education system is critically important. Parents and children should have a right to access education that reflects their ethos and value system. It is a healthy society that provides and embraces that level of diversity and that diversity is a threat to nobody. At this stage in our development as a society, nobody opposes diversity and pluralism within the education system in Ireland.

However, the provision of multidenominational and non-denominational education in this State has happened at a snail's pace and this has caused massive difficulties for parents and children. I attended a public meeting in Trim this week at which there was noticeable shock and anger among parents regarding what has happened to the plans for the development of their own school in Trim. The Minister must admit that the process of providing multidenominational education has been cack-handed at best.

Since becoming a Deputy, one thing I have noticed is that decisions are often made by one section of a Department but those decisions do not necessarily have the plans, support or resources to happen properly. One often sees a decision made and something started but when it comes to implementation, the project quickly runs into significant problems. In my view, this is what is happening with the five Educate Together schools that have had a Departmental half-stream limit imposed upon their next school year.

Let us consider Trim, for example. Trim is a growing commuter town in Meath. It is well provided with Catholic, Protestant and community schools and the past four years have seen the addition of the Educate Together school. That school is going from strength to strength, with great teachers and great education. It has added to the diversity and the pluralism within the town and its extensive hinterland because it is the only school of its type for many miles around.

It is my understanding that all of the schools were in demand in Trim. There has not been pressure on school numbers in the schools in Trim. Because it is a growing town, it is expected that capacity will soon run out. Yet when I asked a parliamentary question with regard to this, I learned that the decision was based on the view that there must be adherence to the balance of pupil numbers in other schools. That is a major difficulty. In fact, I believe that the source of this particular problem is a decision by the Department not to fund the necessary provisions for these five schools, especially the school in Trim.

If one considers the current situation in Trim, the school is operating in a former golf club building. It has a small sliver of grass for the kids to play on. They also play in the car park of the school. As demand is rising, the school has applied for two prefabs to be added. However, when set up, those two prefabs will eat into the kids' play area significantly. Despite all of this, demand is still rising and if the Minister does not implement his ban on bringing a full class into the school, those prefabs will be full.

What went wrong here? Why did the Department not follow through on its promise to provide proper facilities and resources for the school, and when will that happen?

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