Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response. I welcome her establishment of the REALT and all the work being done to, as she said, analyse the data and demand. I do not doubt that accommodating so many new students is a considerable challenge but I have no doubt it is a challenge that the Minister and her Department will work hard to overcome.

The capacity issue speaks to the urgent need to push ahead with the school building programme. A number of schools in my constituency have building works at various stages of application and construction. The truth of the matter is they will not be in a position to welcome additional students and to keep classes at a suitable size until and unless these works are carried out. My overarching plea this evening is that we push ahead with all school building projects to ensure school capacity is bolstered as soon as possible to cater to current students and to children and young people arriving from Ukraine.

To my knowledge, schools, including Holy Family Community School in Rathcoole, St. Joseph's College in Lucan and Lucan Community College, are oversubscribed already for September and all of those schools are due to get new buildings. In the meantime, students are having to travel outside the county to places such as Kildare in order to find a school place. I can only imagine that the addition of Ukrainian students, while welcome, is going to increase waiting lists and put further pressure on those schools. We must push ahead with the school building programme. We need to do it at an advanced rate to ensure that we are accommodating all students in buildings that are fit for purpose and that we are creating positive learning environments.

I represent a rapidly growing area with not one but two strategic development zones and yet recently the Department of Education rescinded a site earmarked for a school in our new town of Clonburris, which will accommodate 11,000 people. In the context of the increased demand for school places, demand that is driven by local growth and the influx of Ukrainian children and young people, who we have an absolute moral duty to accommodate, will the Minister commit to reconsidering this decision and to establishing a school in Clonburris?

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