Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I hope my colleagues will leave time at the end for the Minister to answer.

I had hoped to be able to bring the Minister on a tour of my constituency when she was appointed. Unfortunately, I will have to do that virtually here today. I want to raise three school issues with the Minister. One is the issue of Clonturk Community College, which we discussed last September. I know the Minister was due to meet those involved but, unfortunately, because of the school reopening arrangements, the meeting had to be postponed. The Minister knows they are waiting for two items. The first is clearance to have additional accommodation for September so the school can take in an additional class. This relates to the issue of the demand in that area in general. The second is for a design team to be appointed to build the final school.

The second issue relates to St. Kevin's College in Ballygall which is at the stage of application for an extension. The school is waiting for direction from the building unit and is having some difficulty in securing the project. I would appreciate anything the Minister can do on that.

The third item is that of Meakstown. I cannot name a school there because there is none. It now has a population of 15,000. The census has been cancelled. We had hoped to use it to argue for a school in the area. I believe the Department should examine the need for either a primary or a secondary school and how such a school would interact with surrounding schools in the Finglas and Ballymun areas.

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