Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús báire, gabhaim comhghairdeas leis an Teachta agus a chomhghleacaí ar son a mbua tríd an bhfothoghchán a chuaigh thart. Gabhaim onóir mhór orthu faoi choinne a bpoist nua, chomh maith leis an díograis agus an tsárobair a rinne siad tríd an toghchán. Gabhaim comhghairdeas leo arís.

The new Deputies are up and running. They are not going to hang about, and they have only been here a few hours. I extend my congratulations to both the new Teachtaí Dála in front of me in particular. They both have considerable education experience at both higher and second levels, which will add value to the debate in this House. This is where we need to continue to work and explore new ways of doing things. I wish both of them well.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As he noted, I am familiar with Gorey and I had the opportunity to meet different primary school principals when I visited the area. I was invited there by Deputy Michael D'Arcy. Long-term issues were on those principals' minds at that time, and they even pointed to third classes and where the pinch points would be in years to come. We continue to look at the demographics in such areas, using a geographical information system and planning permissions. We work very closely with the officials within the planning unit in Wexford County Council as well. Wherever there are options, we look at them seriously. We always look at existing capacity in schools within in area. There are over 314 school planning areas within Wexford, including Creagh college and Gorey community school in the Gorey area, as the Deputy pointed out. I have been in both schools, and they are fantastic schools with fantastic leadership.

If there are issues, fears or uncertainties for September 2020, I ask the Deputy, through his own communication channels, to encourage the principals to get in touch with the Department. As of now, we have not had contact with the principals, but we are open to helping if there is any uncertainty. The Deputy used the word "worry" and said that parents are worried about 2020. There is a long-term worry as well, but I reassure the Deputy and anyone listening to this in the Gorey area that we will not allow a situation to emerge where there are no places for secondary school students in the Gorey area in September 2020. We will continue to work to prevent that happening. Other areas such as Kilcock have been raised in the House in the last few weeks, as well as north Dublin, Skerries, and east Cork. There is also an issue in Trim. The principals and the officials in Tullamore are engaging with each other in each of those cases. We try to keep on top of such issues. Last August we dealt with a temporary situation in Ennis and provided a solution at that late hour. It is now December so we have good time to put this together, but I am not working on the basis of providing a solution for September 2020. We will continue to analyse the data and look at the projections and planning permissions. We are looking at the long-term issues as well, but that decision will be based on demographics.

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