Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I learned about the survey this morning. I welcome it. It is about giving parents the choice they need as to where their children are educated and in what circumstances they are educated. An issue I have raised with the Minister before, specifically in relation to a secondary school in Cherrywood in my constituency, is the way in which plebiscites are conducted and how the Department chooses whether there will be education through the medium of the Irish language. The community that wants Irish-language education is naturally and necessarily going to be more widely spread. The danger is that the metric the Department currently uses only focuses on a narrow geographic area when, in fact, in the case of Cherrywood, with big transport links like the Luas and buses, children can travel to a Gaelcholáiste from households in a much wider geographic area. Will the survey account for that? Will the Minister ensure that parents from a wide area get the opportunity to make that choice as well?

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