Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Tá mé ag roinnt leath mo chuid ama leis an Teachta Cowley. I rise to give voice to the extreme concerns of parents and their children in the Laytown-Bettystown area of east Meath. Those children will need a place this September in Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa in Laytown. The parents' association has issued a statement:

The failure locally to plan for or provide suitable and sufficient school facilities and places has led to the situation where there are currently no class rooms for 98 junior infants due to start school in 2 months time. An application for planning permission for temporary accommodation has been made for the school grounds and across the road in the grounds of the parochial hall but the only acceptable solution is delivery of a permanent site and school as outlined in the recently published East Meath Development Plan.We are aware this is a problem not unique to East Meath but is unfortunately familiar in many rapidly expanding commuter towns.

The Minister of State knows well that we have a similar problem in Dublin West, which I represent. Deputy Cowley and I have visited these parents and children in Laytown to see at first hand the problems they are enduring. The parents also comment on the Taoiseach's response to me yesterday when I pressed him on infrastructure and education for new areas:

In reply Mr Ahern said "in Laytown, where the Deputy was this morning, the number of schools that have been built there is enormous". Unfortunately the Taoiseach has been misinformed in this regard and this statement is untrue. His cabinet colleagues and local TDs; former education Minister Mr Noel Dempsey and junior Minister Mary Wallace whose constituency office is located less than 1 mile from our school; can confirm this.

It is very remiss of the local public representatives from the Government side to have failed to fight like dogs to ensure this facility is provided. I seek emergency action so that the children in question will be catered for this September.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Joe Higgins for agreeing to share his time with me. Following the failure of local representatives and council officials to plan for or provide suitable and sufficient facilities and places at Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa in Laytown, County Meath, the parents' association of the school invited Deputies from outside that county to view the situation locally. When Deputy Higgins and I visited the school yesterday, the parents informed us that there are no classrooms for 98 children who are due to start school in two months' time.

We are aware that this problem is not unique to east Meath as it is familiar, unfortunately, in many rapidly expanding commuter towns in the counties surrounding Dublin, as Deputy Higgins has outlined. I was present for Leaders' Questions in this Chamber yesterday when Deputy Higgins informed the Taoiseach of the crisis at Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa. I heard the Taoiseach tell Deputy Higgins that "in Laytown, where the Deputy was this morning, the number of schools that have been built there is enormous". That is just not true. The Taoiseach's Cabinet colleague, the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, was sitting beside him when he made that comment yesterday. The Minister of State, Deputy Mary Wallace, was also present. I am sure they can tell the Taoiseach that the circumstances in Laytown are not as he depicted them.

Thousands of residential homes have been built by developers in east Meath since 1997, but not one classroom has been built in Laytown since the 1970s. Education, which is a basic function of local and national government, is guaranteed under our Constitution. Parents demand the best facilities for their children and will not accept the worst. It is disgraceful, as I have seen for myself, that miles of high-density housing have been developed and there is more to come, but no schools have been built to accommodate the children who inevitably and naturally occupy such housing.

This is another example of the failure of successive Governments, comprising all the major parties, to provide basic administration. I have no reason to believe that the alternative Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition would be any different, unfortunately. I urge the Government to be reasonable and to address this problem before it meets the electorate next year. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Wallace, to take personal charge of the disgraceful situation in Laytown.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this matter and giving me an opportunity to reply on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science. I will outline to the House the strategy being implemented by the Department of Education and Science to ensure there is adequate primary school provision for the rapidly expanding area of Laytown and Bettystown in County Meath, not just for next September but well into the future. There was just one primary school — Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh — in the Laytown and Bettystown area before the start of the current school year. At that time, the school was a fully vertical co-educational facility that catered for pupils from junior infants to sixth class. The relevant parish applied in 2004 for approval to establish a second primary school in the area. The Department of Education and Science sanctioned the recognition of the new school, with effect from 1 September 2005. The new school is called Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa, as the Deputies have said.

The Department supported a local agreement that the new school would be a junior school and the existing school, Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh, would become a senior school. The effect of this agreement is that Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa caters for pupils from junior infants to second class and Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh caters for pupils from third class to sixth class. To prevent disruption to existing pupils, it was agreed that children attending Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh would be allowed to continue in that school. It was also agreed that the existing senior infants and first and second classes at Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh would be phased out over the next few years. In addition, as an exceptional matter, the Department allowed Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh to enrol a junior infant class in September 2005 to meet the educational needs of the area. The school authorities at Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh were informed that the school would not be allowed to enrol new pupils in junior infants to second class from 2006 onwards, as to do so would undermine the development of Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa, which is specifically dedicated to these class groups.

Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa opened with provisional recognition in temporary accommodation in September 2005 on the same campus as Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh. It had an enrolment of 91 pupils and a staffing of a principal and three mainstream classroom assistants, a learning support teacher and a language support teacher. Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa has examined its accommodation needs for the new school year and has applied for five additional prefabs to cater for its 2006-07 enrolments. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that this provision has been approved by the Department of Education and Science and that steps are being taken by the school authorities for its delivery.

The patron of Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa has confirmed that he intends to acquire land and make a site available for the purpose of permanent accommodation for the school. The Department looks forward to progressing a project for the school when this matter has been finalised by the patron. The project in question will attract a band 1 priority rating under the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. That the school has secured the highest possible band rating is a clear indication of the importance the Department attaches to the delivery of permanent accommodation for the school and extra provision for the locality. The Department of Education and Science will not be found wanting in developing the project when the patron has concluded the process of site acquisition. I thank the Deputies for raising this matter.

I wish to inform Deputy Joe Higgins that the Taoiseach's comments yesterday related to schools in our constituency of Dublin West and not in County Meath. I have been advised that the Taoiseach intended to refer to the provision of primary schools in the west Dublin area rather than in the Laytown and Bettystown area of County Meath.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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It was another slip of the tongue by the Taoiseach. Can the Minister of State tell the House when the portakabins will be in place? Will they be there for September? They will have to be.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I assume they will have to be.