Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The problem is that it is not working. We all saw the day that was in it yesterday but parents, teachers and students from St. Joseph's Secondary School in Rush organised a protest in the town. They walked from the existing school to the field where the new school is supposed to be built. The school is oversubscribed this year by 140 students. They were outside the Dáil earlier this term and while it is an incredibly useful education for them in the need to protest to get things delivered, they should not have had to do that. What answer does the Minister have for them today? I appreciate that the Minister has outlined the method that the Department is using but I am telling the Minister that it is not working. The situation is critical for St. Joseph's and for St. Maloga's school in Balbriggan, which I have discussed with the Minister previously. In that school, 58% of students are in 20 year old, crumbling prefabs in the current appalling weather. St. Maloga's is only at the project brief stage even though it has been in the pipeline for so long. The same situation prevails at St. Michael's House in Skerries. We have been told that it is a priority but the Department has not even acquired a site yet. The system is broken. The needs of these young people whose education is time sensitive must be addressed in a better way.

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