Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)

I thank Deputy Cummins for her work on this motion and I also thank the Minister for being present and engaging with the debate. This is a very important motion. Some 60% of Irish parents have expressed a preference for multidenominational schools and it is broadly acknowledged as the way forward in education. When we consider the level of oversubscription for Educate Together schools, the demand for this education is undeniable. These parents have a right to choose an education for their children that aligns with their values.

In my own constituency of Dublin North-West, there is just one Educate Together secondary school, Clonturk Community College. My son attended that school. I remember queueing up to try to get a place in the school and remember that some parents had to queue overnight to get a place. It is a wonderful school, with dedicated staff, yet they are stuck in unsuitable temporary facilities and need a new school building. In the wider area, there are three primary schools, the North Dublin National School Project in my own constituency and Grace Park and Glasnevin Educate Together national schools. Parents from all over Dublin North-West send their children to these primary schools yet they have only one option for a secondary school, Clonturk Community College, which I mentioned.

The barriers to accessing multidenominational education are numerous and real. This motion is about changing that. It highlights that the programme for Government in the last Dáil contained a target of at least 400 multidenominational primary schools by 2030 to improve parental choice, yet the current programme for Government contains no target for multidenominational schools. It appears that the previous Government’s commitment to multidenominational schools and parental choice in education has been written out of the new programme for Government.

It is also important to acknowledge and highlight that with new housing developments and the planning for that, in particular in the national planning framework, there is a need for schools to be developed alongside housing. It is a major issue that where we have housing development, we are not seeing schools being invested in and provided for along with that. In particular, if there is new State funding for schools, it should be on a nondenominational or multidenominational basis. Parents need to have that education provided for them. The Government is doing these parents and children an injustice by not providing access to the multidenominational education they want. What the Social Democrats are putting forward today is an opportunity for the Government to right the wrong, correct the exclusion of multidenominational education from the programme for Government and acknowledge this is what parents and families want for the education of their children.

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