Dáil debates
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Adjournment Debate
Schools Building Projects.
8:00 pm
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In spring during the run-up to the teacher unions' conferences and the general election, the Minister for Education and Science announced to a media fanfare that a primary school, under the patronage of the VEC, would be built for Diswellstown, Castleknock, Dublin 15. The Minister's decision was seen as an overdue response to the large number of children seeking primary school places, a consequence of the thousands of new homes built in the area and the failure of the Department of Education and Science to build a sufficient number of primary schools to meet demand. Despite her promises and the general welcome by Dublin county VEC to the proposal, it never happened. Why did the Minister run away from her promise, a belated response to a dreadful school places crisis facing parents and children? Instead, the community of Dublin 15 had an awful summer as parents jostled frantically to secure places for their children in the nearest primary school. Frantic parents and stressed children face the same situation this year.
The Minister's emergency last minute response of begging the Catholic Church to act as patron for two years or more of a new Catholic primary school, Scoil Colm, has had a predictable outcome. Scoil Colm is perceived as a school for "others", children of non-Irish parents, and is one of several primary schools in Dublin 15 where there are few or no children of Irish parents. When the children are bussed out in the morning one can see that this is a school for immigrant children. Has the Minister abandoned the VEC-patroned school for Diswellstown that she had promised? Does she have a site and has she discussed the proposal formally with the County Dublin VEC? Her inaction and cowardice in this area are leading to the development of segregated schools for non-Irish and Irish-born children of foreign immigrants. One set of parents is being pitted against another.
The Government states repeatedly that it wishes to avoid ghettoisation. Segregated schooling is the quickest route to building ghettoes. Is that the Minister's intention? Fingal County Council recently announced, as requested by the Minister, a programme of school building for Dublin 15 and Fingal. Has the Minister secured the funding for this from the Minister for Finance or is this more pie in the sky? Is the promised Diswellstown school included in this plan or has the project been dropped, as I suspect?
The Minister needs to come out of hiding and honestly address these difficult and complex issues. I have called for a new national convention on education to address the question of who will be the patrons of new schools in new areas with diverse communities, and how we provide for a different ethos, religion or other delicate issue. We want the Minister to face up to the management of primary schools in a changing Ireland. We want identified enrolment policies in primary schools that will make them inclusive rather than ghettoised. Does domestic and EU equality legislation apply in this environment and how will the Department address these issues?
School sites should be acquired when permission is granted for the building of thousands of houses and apartments. The Department should face up to its responsibilities from the day planning permission is granted, not ten years after the homes have been built and occupied. This has been the style of this Government, which puts the interests of its friends in the construction industry ahead of those of parents and children.
Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter as it allows me to apprise the House of the background to, and progress in piloting, a new model of community primary school in Diswellstown.
Historically, the church authorities, mainly Catholic and Church of Ireland, acted as patrons or sponsors of primary schools by initiating the process of establishing a new school when one was needed to serve a specific geographic area. This model of school provision has evolved incrementally to reflect changes in demand and in the expectations of society, notably the demand for diversity. With these changes, there has been an increase in the number of patron bodies seeking recognition for new schools.
The present model of primary school provision has served the country well. When the Minister for Education and Science announced her intention earlier this year to pilot a new patron model for primary schools, she made it clear that this would provide an additional patronage option and was not intended to replace the existing patron models. Following her announcement, officials in the Department engaged in consultations with the education partners and the County Dublin Vocational Education Committee to explore the detailed implementation measures that must be put in place prior to the opening of the proposed new school.
The new model will be introduced on a pilot basis in the first instance at a school to be built in Diswellstown, County Dublin. It is intended that this school will be community-based and will operate within the administrative framework of the County Dublin VEC. Once the pilot phase has been evaluated and the various issues that may arise identified and resolved, consideration can be given to allowing other VECs to establish community primary schools. Meanwhile, my Department will continue to prepare for the establishment phase for the Diswellstown school. While the exact location of the new school in Diswellstown has yet to be finalised, two potential sites are being considered and my Department has asked Fingal County Council to expedite the process as a matter of urgency.
The Department has intervened at primary level in the Dublin 15 area in response to the acknowledged need for considerable extra school places. These interventions include measures to increase the capacity of existing schools, as well as the development of new schools to meet the growing demand. The provision of increased places is, and will continue to be, backed up by a significant construction programme which has already delivered three new primary schools in the recent past, with another on site. Together with radical changes in how projects are planned and delivered, adequate primary school places in west Dublin will be ensured well into the future.
My Department is advancing plans to make considerable extra post-primary provision available in the Dublin 15 area. Four such schools will be provided in the coming years, each catering for 1,000 pupils. These schools are being provided in Phibblestown, Tyrellstown, Hansfield and Castleknock. Last Friday the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, officially opened the new Educate Together national school in Castleknock, Dublin 15, catering for a student population of some 400, which cost over â¬5 million.
My Department will liaise with the local authority and use its other information sources to ensure that whatever other school accommodation needs emerge in the Dublin 15 area will be addressed as expeditiously as possible. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and allowing me to clarify the position on the pilot patron model and ongoing developments in the area.