Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was angry before and with the greatest of respect to the Minister of State, I am twice as angry now. The ink on that paper is not worth anything and I would be tempted to tear it up, but I have too much respect for the Minister of State. I will put it in as a Topical Issue matter for the Minister again next week.

That answer is absolutely disgraceful. It does not give any sense of the priority the former Minister, Deputy Bruton, put on this issue five months ago. It does not mention anything about the commitment that was made for the end of October and for the end of November and here we are with 24 hours to go before the end of November.

Telling a Deputy in this House to check the website is an absolute insult. I check the website every day but surely I would expect that with a Topical Issue debate in this House, which God knows it is hard enough to get, there would at least be some sort of response. How am I expected to respond to the concerns of those traumatised parents who have been contacting me this week about their children not having a place to go to school? This issue will get worse and worse. The only change over the past five months, between the time the former Minister, Deputy Bruton, committed to making an imminent decision and the present, is that the situation has become worse.

What will we do in September when there are children with no school place because of the lack of foresight from the Minister and the Department? This is an urgent issue. I would not have put it down as a Topical Issue matter if it was not and I will continue to table it as such. The Government is letting down the young people of the Newbridge area and their families. The campaign that was started by South Kildare Educate Together more than five years ago to try to provide choice and diversity for our young people also has been let down. Shame on the Department and shame on the Minister.

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