Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I thank the Minister of State. There is a lot of detail there about the different demographic data and census data. I am trying to add to that data the voice of the people of Dublin Rathdown and specifically Kilternan. These constituents are, as I said, incredibly frustrated at this. The Minister of State touched on some of the alternatives in other areas but the issue with that is I have just heard this morning that transport is not going to be provided by the Department. Kilternan is already struggling with transport. As I mentioned, those key areas of Kilternan, Stepaside, Carrickmines and Belarmine are all disadvantaged. Although BusConnects is going to provide some additional relief it is not going to be enough and it is already not enough. Constituents with children who are already forced to travel for school are experiencing huge difficulty with this so there is no doubt in my mind or that of the community that a new school is needed. I have heard from multiple families that they have been rejected by four local primary schools and are on waiting lists for them with zero guarantees.

It is hugely concerning this shortfall of places has happened under the Department's existing assessment criteria. That tells me these criteria are not working. How is the Department planning on meeting the school place need for children in Kilternan for September 2026? That is the most urgent issue here. What guarantee can the Department give the families of Kilternan their children will have places to start school in September 2026? Once again, if the priority is adding onto existing premises for compact development, as the Minister of State said, why is it that fully capacity of planning permission is not being delivered? What is proposed instead is prefabs and so on.

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