Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I would like to discuss the need for schools in the Kilternan area of my constituency of Dublin-Rathdown. Kilternan is one of the most beautiful areas in my constituency. It is in the Dublin Mountains on the Wicklow border. We have a very diverse community with more suburban areas like Dundrum and Stillorgan but as one moves up towards Belarmine, Carrickmines, Stepaside and Kilternan, they are quite different in terms of the topographical area and some of the challenges that brings. Parents are at the end of their tether with no school places for their children for September 2026. Last week, parents from the Kilternan community held a meeting to discuss this. There was story after story of frustration, lack of place allocation and endless waiting lists. These families need to know their children will have a school to go to next September. One challenge this community faces is development. There has been huge housing and infrastructure development in Kilternan but it has not been matched with school place provision. Of course, we want to celebrate that this is a growing community. It is wonderful to see this beautiful part of our constituency is under development but it has to be matched with the resources that are needed. There are multiple housing projects under construction and commencements due over the period ahead locally. The need for school places will only grow in the area yet the community is already crying out for schools for the children of Kilternan.

I will touch on the different needs at primary and secondary level. At present, there is no secondary school in the Kilternan school planning area. Children who attend primary school locally have no local secondary school to go to when they finish. They do not receive guaranteed admission to any local secondary schools. As a result, families are facing commutes to different locations outside their area with their children. As I mentioned, that is practically challenging when people are in an area with the topographical challenges Kilternan brings, which is a hilly area. I will get onto transport and the challenges around that later. In primary school need, the community is facing an immediate crisis for 2026 for junior infant intake. Families are contracting my office constantly, experiencing huge anxiety over whether they will be able to obtain any place for their children to begin school. I mention specifically Our Lady of the Wayside National School which is trying to accommodate as many students as it can. The school has full planning permission for an extension and new facilities but the Department has not committed to the allocation of funding, which I find bizarre given the reply to a parliamentary question said the preference is always to build on rather than building a new school. I am curious as to why that gap is happening.

I urge the Department to reconsider and I invite the Minister of State to meet the principal Fiona Downes on the issue. A site for schools has been reserved in Kilternan for many years by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council but the Department of Education and Youth has yet to sanction the delivery of the required schools.

What metrics are being used by the Department to determine the need for a new school? Will the Department commit to schools for Kilternan? When are families going to see the delivery of these schools? They are at the end of their tethers with the frustration, anxiety and stress this is bringing to them and their young children. How does the Government intend to provide school places for the children of this rapidly-growing community in the interim?

As I have not had an opportunity to say it yet, I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment.

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