John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This move to Citywest will kill the school. The Minister is a proud Kerrywoman. We had a brief chat beforehand, for which I am grateful. The move from Firhouse to Citywest is equivalent to moving a school and asking its children to move from Tralee to Listowel with Dublin city-style traffic.

For me, at the moment, and without wanting to put the Gaelscoil in any position, that is the solution. If the Department was looking at a solution on Stocking Lane with a budget of €3.5 million, a fraction of that money could be used on the existing site to provide additional temporary facilities for the school. Like my colleagues, I invite the Minister to meet representatives of the school. Each of the Deputies who have raised this matter is willing to meet the patron body of the Gaelscoileanna if that would assist and if the Minister could facilitate that. We ask also the Minister to meet representatives of the school in Citywest. Could we meet the Minister about the matter at some stage in the future because, in six weeks' time, these students will be expected to go back to school? The Minister should be sincerely assured that the move to Citywest will kill this school.

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