Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 69: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her views on the need for new residential areas to have locally-based school capacity in tandem with new housing; and if she will work with local authorities such as Fingal County Council to arrange for the simultaneous provision of housing and educational facilities in a way which allows for maximum community use of such facilities to the benefit of schools involved and the wider communities they serve. [5845/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As I have told the House before, the potential implications for school provision arising from new residential developments should be taken into account when such developments are being planned and approved. This places responsibilities on local authorities and on my Department to work together and I am happy to report that there are a number of very positive developments in that regard.

My Department must be apprised by local authorities of all development planning processes at county and sub-county level. This ensures that the Department is alerted to new and expanding residential areas and affords an opportunity to ensure appropriate zoning provision for educational purposes.

As the Deputy will be aware, a new school planning model involving published area development plans has also been developed by my Department, and is being piloted in five areas over the current school year. The purpose of this new approach to school planning is to ensure that, in future, the provision of school infrastructure will be decided only after a transparent consultation process and that the blueprint for school planning in an area reflects the current and projected future level of housing there. This process will ensure a more proactive approach to school planning than had been the case in the past.

Aside from improved contacts and communication protocols with local authorities and the implementation of the new model of area development plans, there is another initiative to which I draw Members' attention.

Under the strategic development zone, SDZ, process at Adamstown my Department is working closely with South Dublin County Council and the developers to produce an integrated solution to education and community facilities that matches the delivery of new housing. The SDZ for Adamstown requires that housing and supporting infrastructure, including schools, be provided in a phased manner. It is a condition of the SDZ that at completion of phase 2, which is approximately 1,800 housing units, a primary school of eight classrooms or a post-primary school of 12 classrooms be in place. Each additional housing phase requires the provision of further school accommodation. This approach ensures that schools are in position ahead of or in line with demand, and is one that should be adopted by other planning authorities for major new housing schemes. My Department is eager to find innovative ways of working with local authorities to ensure that school provision matches demand in their areas. In Fingal, the Deputy will be pleased to know that we are in discussions on a new arrangement whereby the council will provide lower cost sites in return for community facilities being provided in tandem with the schools. Discussions are at an advanced stage and I expect that agreement will be reached shortly.

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Tááthas orm go bhfuil na cainteanna fós ar siúl agus go mbeidh deireadh fóntach leo le cúnamh Dé. Is the Minister aware of the huge burden on many families in new areas? I can give many examples from personal experience. For example, I know a family who, having moved to Balbriggan, put their child on a train from Balbriggan to Malahide to continue at their old school. A family in Blanchardstown cannot move to Balbriggan because of a lack of school capacity, even though the local authority made a house available there. Another family in Drogheda has to drive to Malahide every morning to find a school place. When the Minister says that the need for provision should be taken into account, can I take it that priority will not only be given when local authorities make the initiative but that the matter will also be prioritised by her Department?

Is she aware that, in the absence of action by the Department, developers and builders, who are obviously in the business of making profits, move in to offer school sites as carrots or to exert pressure on local authorities to undertake rezoning beyond what might be considered prudent in the development plan? Is she happy that schools are used in such scenarios as bargaining chips or a modern day and perhaps more ethical equivalent of the brown envelope? That in itself should give the Department cause to consider seriously the need for simultaneous provision.

With regard to the Minister's claim that a transparent process is in place, will she put a time limit on that process? A long process becomes meaningless and forces families to ask developers for help in providing sites for schools. Does she accept that education facilities should not be thus provided because it is bad for development in general? Will the Department be proactive rather than await proposals from South Dublin or Fingal County Council?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I take issue with councils which do not take seriously their responsibilities for the provision of extra facilities or schools, granting instead planning permission for large numbers of houses without regard for the knock-on effects on education provision.

From my Department's point of view, the area development plan enables us to look ten to 15 years into the future, while a number of the previously published plans have been very successful. For example, the adopted plan for Mountmellick and Mountrath proposed a new post-primary amalgamation which, as I have already announced, will be part of the next package and further plans have been published for the N4-M4 corridor and for Westport and Newport. Some of the areas mentioned by the Deputy are included in the plans being produced, such as north Dublin, south County Louth, east County Meath, north County Kerry and Limerick. These plans will reflect the needs of their respective areas.

I pay credit to Fingal County Council because it has been innovative in its approach to the intensive development taking place within its borders. Naturally, it is a hard bargainer but we are working closely with it and are about to agree to an arrangement of benefit to both of us for the provision of sites, the procurement and future use of sites and for the building of schools by the Department while also allowing for shared use of community facilities. Similar discussions are ongoing with local authorities in Kildare, Waterford, Meath and other areas.

Whereas the Department and I take full responsibility for educational planning, county and urban councils must have regard for the types of planning permissions they grant, the zoning they undertake and the obligations they put on developers. I do not understand why planning permission can be given for 50 houses without telling the builder to construct an additional classroom for the local school or, in the case of 150 houses, to require that a new school be built. If everybody shouldered their responsibilities, the problem of long-term education provision could be quickly solved.

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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I am glad to hear the Minister's acknowledgement that Fingal County Council has provided leadership. Will she put that learning experience into a new formula which could be repeated in other areas?

While issues at primary level obviously need to be addressed, she will be aware from the meetings she and her predecessor attended of the problems on the Donabate peninsula in terms of second level schools. People are left with serious school shortages because the process is taking too long.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Second level provision is also included in the area development plans. The Deputy will be aware that I met a deputation on the Donabate issue. Obviously certain matters need to be resolved, including the type and size of the school and who should be appointed patron. Once those issues are solved——

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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They are.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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——it will be possible to progress the matter.