Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. One of the issues with the school in Sandymount is that it is up to 90 minutes away for pupils from parts of Dublin 8. That is 90 minutes travelling to school and 90 minutes travelling back. That is time in which they should be studying and it therefore impacts on their ability to study. It is 90 minutes travelling to and from school each way when they should be with their family or friends. The school in Sandymount is not serving the needs of Dublin 8.

The Minister of State stated that new post-primary schools must have an enrolment capacity of between 600 and 1,000. When the patronage assessment report was being published, the Department's own number for Dublin 8 indicated there were 651 students. Based on the Minister of State's reply and the Department's own numbers, there are grounds for a school in Dublin 8. Moreover, the figure for the Goatstown and Stillorgan area in the patronage report was 445 when it got a new school. Enfield had a number of 322 when it got a new school. KIngscourt, County Cavan, had a number of 208 when it got a new school. Based on the Minister of State's numbers, plenty of areas with lower need than Dublin 8 are getting new schools. Dublin 8 has sufficient need, according to the Department's own numbers. Yet, the Department says it does not need a new school when clearly its own numbers say it does. This gets back to the point about the opacity of the numbers and the lack of transparency. All I have to do is share the results of that survey of parents with the Minister of State to show that behind those numbers are individual students and communities who are suffering because they need that new school. There are grounds for a new school in Dublin 8 based on the Department's own numbers. We need that new secondary school.

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