Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for standing in for the Minister, Deputy Foley, this evening. Three weeks ago, enrolment opened in Greystones for the 2024 secondary school intake. The three schools that opened their enrolments were St. David's Holy Faith Secondary School, Temple Carrig School and Greystones Community College. In five weeks' time, those three schools will write to parents to let them know whether their child was successful in applying to the school. There will be hundreds of students awaiting that news. This is a time of year and a time in sixth class students' lives that should be exciting for them. They should hear in November which secondary school they will go to. They will know if their friends are going to the same school and they will be excited about making new friends, going to a new school and, perhaps, using an iPad. I know from experience that having a locker is also a really big thing for these students. This should be an exciting time for them but, unfortunately, we are yet again going to have a large number of students in Greystones for whom this time will not be exciting. Instead, it will be very stressful for them and their parents. This is because a large number of children will not get a school place in November.

This is something we have seen very regularly in the Greystones area, primarily because there has been great growth in the area. We have seen more than 4,000 new people come into our community since the previous census. However, it is not just because of the growth. It is also because investment in school infrastructure has not kept pace with that growth. That is the main problem. Of the three schools that opened their enrolments, two are unable to offer the same number of places they did last year. For this incoming intake, there will be 72 fewer places for secondary school students. This is a great deficit and there is a discrepancy in the numbers because there are more sixth class students coming out of the primary schools this year. This is going to be a big problem.

To be fair to the schools, they have been incredibly proactive in this. The three schools came together and issued a press release informing parents that there will be problems with enrolment this year. One of the schools, Temple Carrig School, had to wait two years for four temporary Portakabins to be put in to help deal with capacity issues. The promised permanent extension for that school is nowhere to be seen. There has been no update on it so the school is having to reduce the number of children it can take in in September. The story is similar with Greystones Community College. It too is reducing numbers because it is waiting for a brand new school building. That will be fantastic when built but it needs to be fast-tracked.

I hope the Minister of State has a script from the Minister telling me exactly how the Department is going to ensure every child in Greystones will have a secondary school place available to him or her for 2024. Parents will need that information, as will the children and the schools. I hope he will be able to provide us with that clarity this evening.

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