Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The announcement in April by the Minister for Education and Science of an additional primary school, St. Benedict's, for the Ongar and Castaheany area was welcomed by all the community because of the ongoing crisis regarding school places in this rapidly growing area. However, the recent news that St. Benedict's will share the site reserved for more than three years for the Castaheany Educate Together national school has caused great concern among local residents.

The two schools along with community facilities will be located on only four acres, which is considerably less than the usual size for schools with such numbers. I have been advised that only three acres of the site have been reserved for educational use. I have been told that the Department of Education and Science plans to provide a 40-classroom facility on this three or four-acre site potentially catering for up to 1,200 children. Local residents are extremely concerned that the access to the two schools for the 1,200 children and the community facility will be through one housing estate in which, because of high densities, roads are designed to be narrow, with no free parking. Residents are very limited in the amount of parking.

I call on the Department to meet residents, public representatives and Fingal County Council in a round table discussion to work our way through the issue. While people really want the school, equally they need to be able to get into and out of their homes. Having been promised a school for three years, the board of Castaheany Educate Together school is anxious to open in September. Equally it is alarmed at the level of traffic safety and access issues that arise for so many children in a confined site with a limited access point.

Why were the members of the board of the Castaheany Educate Together school not consulted about the possibility of an additional school being built on the site reserved for its school? When will the Government inform the board of the Castaheany Educate Together national school of the full detail of its plans for this site? Apparently the Department has consulted Fingal County Council, but has consulted none of the other parties, including the school boards, residents and local public representatives. What plans has the Minister made for access, parking and drop-off points for a school of this size in what is essentially a cul-de-sac residential estate?

I have campaigned for the Minister to pay some attention to the crisis of primary school places in Dublin 15. However, squeezing two schools into a small site is not a solution. Some 8,000 houses have been built in the area in the past seven years and the new communities will need to live with the consequences of this decision for 30 or 40 years. While there is urgency, there is also a need for consultation to get this right. When vast tracts of land are zoned for housing, school sites must be acquired at the same time. Sites reserved for educational use must not sit vacant for years.

There is an easy solution. Two other sites are reserved for education in the area in Hansfield, directly across the road from the site that is to hold these two schools and further up the road at Phibblestown. Why did the Minister choose to squeeze two schools on to such a small site with access problems? For St. Benedict's the resources available in reserved sites in the Dublin 15 area, particularly the Hansfield site directly across the road, must be utilised. Once two schools are built on this site with limited access there will be no going back. I am sure the Minister of State knows from his constituency that where there is limited access and the residents have 1,200 children coming through one small space, it sets the scene for continual conflict down the decades.

I have championed both the schools and will continue to do so. I ask the Minister to consult now while there is time. While no one wants to see any objections, the residents who will live beside these schools had been promised one school and a green space. They will now get two schools and a community facility with another school site lying vacant across the road. They deserve to be consulted, as do the boards of the two schools. I am sure that if this is done we can find an amicable way forward to resolve the issue and provide these important schools on time.

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline to the House the actions being taken by the Department of Education and Science to address the school accommodation needs of the Ongar area of Dublin 15. The Department of Education and Science has acknowledged that the population surge in Dublin 15 has created a significant extra demand for primary school places. This unforeseen surge has been created, in the main, by occupancy rates greater than those predicted by the local authority for housing developments. This appears to have arisen largely because families have moved into the area.

Having found itself in a position where a considerable amount of additional primary school accommodation was urgently needed, the Department moved quickly to provide this accommodation by extending existing schools and providing a number of completely new schools. The Department is particularly appreciative of the boards of management which rose to the challenge of meeting the needs of their communities.

All the projects concerned, including extension projects, attract a band one priority rating under the prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. The delivery of building projects for the new schools is being expedited by using generic repeat designs or the design and build method where generic repeat designs are not feasible. This approach will ensure that school accommodation is delivered in the fastest timeframe possible and is a clear indication of the urgency with which the Department regards the provision of educational infrastructure in the area.

The Department took the exceptional measure of recognising a new school, St. Benedict's Ongar National School, outside the new schools advisory committee process in order to ensure that places will be available for eligible pupils for next September. This is one of the schools which will be permanently located on the Ongar site.

The Department wishes to be unequivocal about what is happening on the Ongar site. This site is being developed on a phased basis. The focus for the Department is, in the first instance, on providing a new permanent school building for Castaheany Educate Together school on the site by September 2007. This is a challenging timeframe in terms of dealing with the design, planning permission and construction phases of the project. The project will be followed by a permanent school building for St. Benedict's Ongar National School. Both schools will have a separate identity on the site. One will be a two stream facility, the other will be a three stream facility. It is expected that further provisions will be made in other locations in the area.

Officials in the Department had extensive discussions with Fingal County Council prior to lodging the application for planning permission for the first phase of the project with a view to addressing any planning issues arising. It is a matter for the planning processes to iron out any remaining issues.

The Ongar site, which comprises four acres, is reserved for educational use rather than for one school or school type. It is in the ownership of the Department of Education and Science and there is no question of such a large parcel of scarce and costly land being dedicated to one educational facility when the needs of the community exceed what one school is able to provide. It is the function of the Department to assess the educational needs of the constituent parts of any given community and to deliver infrastructure to meet those needs in the context of statutory regulations such as planning permission requirements.

The best technical advice available to the Department indicates that, with imaginative and creative design, the site has the capacity to accommodate two primary schools without compromising standards. The Department will be pressing ahead with its plans in this regard. Issues such as access and traffic management will be dealt with under the planning procedures.

Multi-school campus arrangements will become a feature of the educational landscape. In Fingal County Council, these campus style arrangements will have the added benefit of access to shared community facilities, which will enhance the educational experience of the pupils attending the schools and benefit the community at large. The Department hopes to be able to test this model with all due haste but the first priority is to ensure that all eligible pupils in Dublin 15 are able to attend school.

The provisions being made on the Ongar site are necessary to match demand. The Department has the land to make the required provision and the plans are fully in train to deliver it.