Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In north Kildare we have a particular problem. We have a rapidly growing population. This population growth continues year after year but particularly in the last couple of years. We at local level, Oireachtas Members and members of local authorities et al., have put forward proposals ourselves to ensure catchment areas were regularly defined and that they were logical in terms of travel distances from the point of view of the parents. The problem is that most or all of the parents are at work so they have a difficulty if they cannot travel to the nearest school. The problem that now exists, unfortunately, is that for ordinary mainstream education there are difficulties in virtually all schools. There is a difficulty in gaining access for children and their parents and grandparents went to those schools. However, because of some changes that took place in the planning department it is found that they cannot attend the school of their choice which happens to be maybe a school their siblings are also attending. As a result, there is total confusion in the community. In trying to be helpful, possible solutions have been put forward by the Department of Education to the effect the children could go to another school that beyond the existing school and have transport provided and so on. That is all very fine but would not be necessary if adequate provision was made with regard how the management of the catchment areas was done and how much regard it had for the parents.

This is also a particular problem with regard to children with special needs. In some cases there is more than one child in the one house. In many of these cases there is no place available at all. We had a meeting some time ago and the Minister kindly arranged for a meeting in her Department with the interested parties. It transpired during the course of the meeting that the planning department had done its own sums and made its own plan but it did not measure up to the needs of the community. This causes very considerable difficulties. For example, there are some cases where children are already being deprived from joining the school that is nearest to them and to which their parents went and where they already have siblings in the school and they cannot join them. That is impossible for parents to handle if they have to do a school run in the morning and in the middle of the day. It cannot be done. It is a tough enough challenge for the parents to be able to handle a child or more than one child with special needs and depending on the degree of special needs. It is very important at this stage to try to resolve the problem by identifying how that can be dealt with in the shortest time possible and in the quickest way with the minimum of disturbance to both the parents and the children. I ask that at this stage an urgent review of the catchment areas and the plan that is obviously not working be done forthwith with a view to bringing some kind of resolution to the problem.

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