Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: notes that:

— the Department of Education confirmed this month that 58 school building projects were paused from going to tender or commencing construction due to a lack of funding;

— the failure to publish the full list of delayed school building projects has caused enormous concern and uncertainty for school communities, with some schools being told their project is delayed and others assured that work will proceed;

— any delays to building projects that were due to start in 2023 will lead to knock-on consequences in future years, delaying the provision of permanent classrooms; and

— the additional cost of providing temporary accommodation for those delayed schools will cost millions and make the construction of permanent new schools on crowded sites more complex, costly and difficult;

recognises that the failure in Budget 2023 to increase the capital allocation for school building projects to account for increased costs and construction inflation has resulted in this outcome;

further notes that:

— there is a capacity crisis in many existing schools and extensive waiting lists for secondary schools, especially in growing urban areas;

— the School Transport Scheme is still oversubscribed in many areas due to a lack of additional capacity, and the failure to communicate properly with parents is leading to confusion and anxiety;

— delays and problems with the provision of special education classes remains an unresolved challenge;

— the annual publication of Special Needs Assistants (SNA) allocations occurs too late in the year in mid to late May, shows a lack of respect for SNAs and does not allow for appropriate school planning;

— the results of the Leaving Certificate will be delayed into September for the fourth year, and this causes a scramble for accommodation and planning difficulties for third level institutions;

— up to 25 per cent of school places may be reserved for the children or grandchildren of past pupils;

— the subsidy to private schools amounts to over €100 million and creates social barriers, and, in a Republic, children should not be segregated in schools on the grounds of religion, gender or income;

— the pilot arrangement for the transfer of eight Catholic schools to multi-denominational patrons has been badly managed, divisive and lacked transparency; progress on divestment overall has stalled, and there is no roadmap or interim targets to achieve 400 multi-denominational primary schools by 2030; and

— the introduction of free schoolbooks at primary level is welcome but schools are still underfunded, and too many education costs are still borne by parents; and

calls for:

— the Minister for Education to publish the list of delayed school building projects, and for the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to commit to providing the additional capital expenditure needed for these to commence;

— the Government to commit that the 58 delayed schools will commence construction or tendering this year, and for the publication of what school building projects will commence in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and a guarantee that these projects will proceed;

— additional resources to be committed towards meeting the capacity constraints facing primary and secondary schools across the country;

— a commitment that no child will be left without a place through the School Transport Scheme from September 2023;

— a status report to be published by the end of April on the provision of special education classes and schools for the next school year, implementation of a national autism strategy, and the earlier publication of SNA allocations for schools;

— the removal of the provision in law allowing 25 per cent of school places to be reserved for the children or grandchildren of past pupils, and the phasing out of State funding for private schools and single sex schools;

— radical reform of the Leaving Certificate, and a return to the publication of results in August;

— a reduction in class sizes of schools in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools programme to a pupil teacher ratio of 15:1, abolition of voluntary contributions and a binding pledge to make education truly free; and

— a commitment that the Citizens' Assembly on the Future of Education will be commenced this year, a redesign of the divestment process, and the publication of a roadmap to achieve the Government target of 400 multi-denominational schools by 2030.

I am sharing time with a number of my colleagues. It is said that education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. There are very few issues more important to the Labour Party than education. As we rise today and speak on a motion on education, we think of our recently departed colleague, Niamh Bhreathnach, who was a trailblazer in the field of education.

It would be unfair of the Labour Party to say that the Minister, Deputy Foley, has not had her successes because she has. It is important for us in opposition to recognise when a Minister has achievements. We will recognise that and we want to work with her in her many endeavours, however, today we must unfortunately point to a number of failures. They are failures partly because of planning and a lack of vision that are seeing school communities, individual students and parents suffer. The top of our list is the issue of school buildings. Some 58 school communities got devastating letters telling them that the school building projects, in which they were so invested, are not going to happen. We are getting confusing messages between the Taoiseach saying last week that they will recommence this year and the Minister saying she cannot make that commitment. It appears the Taoiseach has resiled from the position he had last week. There was no increase in the capital budget of last year's budget. Surely the escalating costs that have resulted in the stalling of the 58 school projects should have foreseen. We still do not have the list of 58 schools.

On school places, my colleague, Senator Mark Wall, in County Kildare, has said that outside of housing, the ability to get a school place for their child is top of the list of concerns parents have. The Government still will not help the Labour Party to pass our Bill that would remove the elitist provision in the Education (Admission to Schools) Act that allows for 25% of places to be kept for children or grandchildren of past pupils. This elitist measure was brought in because of the lobbying power of the private school sector.

Let us talk about the school transport initiative, again, a welcome measure and something we supported, but the Minister must accept that it was shambolic when rolled out and we cannot see those scenes again. Will she ensure that we will not see those scenes again, of children left on the side of road, most acutely evident in the constituency of my colleague, Deputy Sherlock?

As for special education classes, we are still hearing from parents who cannot be assured there will be a place in September for their children, the most acutely vulnerable children, especially those with autism. We as a party congratulate Irish international player, James McClean, on his courageous statement this week of his own diagnosis, the same diagnosis as that of his daughter, Willow-Ivy.

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