Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have to say that I am really disappointed with the response. It has been two months and the Department has yet to ascertain how many children in the area do not have a place. How does it take two months to go through that process? How has the Department not yet figured out where there is capacity in schools in the area?

Parents in the area have just two questions. They want to know what school their child will be going to and when they will find out. They are two very simple basic questions and after first raising this in October and after the Department getting all the information from the different schools, the Minister should be able to provide that clarity for parents.

There is a significant irony here. In November, the Minister was all over every single news outlet talking about the school phone ban. She was lauding the fact there were schools and parents in Greystones that had come together to develop a voluntary code when it came to phone bans and she was going to apply this across the country. It is these same children who do not have a place. That is the irony of this. It is these sixth class students in Greystones who do not have a place. With all due respect, the Minister's focus should be on ensuring that children have a school place for September rather than on issuing guidance notes that are voluntary for parents.

I am really frustrated by this. I cannot believe that we still do not have any actual figures as to how many students require a place. Not only have we no figures about that, we have no timeline as to when that information will be given to parents. We also do not have any information on the three school projects that are underway.

The Greystones Community College went out for tender almost one year ago. I have asked that the Department prioritise that in the bundle of ten to make sure there are enough school places for 2025. There is no further information on that. The Temple Carraig school extension has also gone on far too long. We also have Coláiste Chraobh Abhann, which received planning permission more than one year ago and there is still no indication of any progress with that. This is an area where there is huge demand. There is an incredible level of housebuilding going on. This situation is not going to get better and we need to make sure that the Department has this under control for September 2024 and September 2025, and that the schools are fully able to take whatever demand is coming down the road.

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