Dáil debates

Tuesday, 12 November 2019

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Schools Building Projects

6:25 pm

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has not given us any assistance on either issue. St. Laurence's national school in Baldoyle has had a distinguished history but it is unusual in having two separate campuses, 600 m or 700 m apart, along a main road. It has always been a popular choice for families in the Baldoyle area. There is no waiting list for families since every parent who applies on behalf of his or her child is given a place.

The school never used religion as a criterion for pupils’ entry. Accordingly, St. Laurence’s did not have to alter its enrolment policies when the Minister’s predecessor, Deputy Bruton, made some legislative changes in this regard.

A new Educate Together school is opening for the coast, the nearby district of the north fringe with thousands of new families due to be living there in the future. This new school is a welcome addition to the current poor services in the north fringe. Constituents ask, however, why the necessary improvements are not also being funded and supported for our existing primary school at St. Laurence’s, given the large size of the existing Baldoyle parish.

Will the Minister look at making the necessary funding available for the emergency works application made by the principal, Ms Clare Finnerty, in February and April 2018? In particular, will he examine the creation of an internal corridor and restructuring of the shelter area in the yard at the Brookstone Road campus? These are essential because the buildings in question are old style where pupils have to go into the yard to go from room to room.

On 18 October, Our Lady Immaculate senior school received notice from the Department that its staffing appeal had failed. The deputy principal, Mr. Shane Loftus, told me that he and his colleagues believe that the terrible events in the past year in the Darndale-Belcamp parish and its environs mean that an extraordinary intervention was needed and an extra teacher should have been provided. All the community organisations in Darndale, including Darndale Belcamp village, the Belcamp estate steering committee, the Northside Partnership, Coolock Development Council, of which I am a director, and An Garda Síochána, DMR north, strongly support this request. Will the Minister review this and provide the necessary funding for Baldoyle?

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