Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I call on the Minister for Education and Science to immediately convene a forum of parents, patrons, principals and other stakeholders in education in Dublin 15 to create a fair and just school enrolment system. This is the time of year when schools throughout Dublin 15 enrol children. Once again, confusion reigns among parents in the Diswellstown, Littlepace, Clonsilla, Tyrelstown and other developing areas of Blanchardstown and Castleknock as to whether their children will get one of the few coveted places in their local primary school next September.

Every day for the past seven or eight years has been groundhog day, with the recurring school place crisis in Dublin 15. Last year, in the run up to the general election, the Minister for Education and Science made a lot of promises about resolving the matter. The then Minister of State with responsibility for children, who is now Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, had his Department fund a ground-breaking report on education and the demand for school places in the Dublin 15 area.

That report was launched to great fanfare by the Minister and proposed, in its 13 principal recommendations, a round-table forum of all the stakeholders and a Green Paper from the Government to deal with the issue of planning for enrolment in areas such as Dublin 15, where there is an explosion in the school-going population and particularly in the new Irish community.

This week the Minister for Education and Science announced her intention to apply for planning permission for three new primary schools in Ongar, the Phoenix Park racecourse and at Kellystown near Clonsilla. There was no consultation. It is not clear how children will be enrolled for these schools. It may be that — as in the case of Scoil Colm, established at the last minute last year under the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin — these schools will be primarily for children who have failed to get into the existing schools in the area. Therefore, as in the case of Scoil Colm and the Educate Together school in Balbriggan, they may end up being the schools for those children left out. Do we really want to develop ghettoised schools where almost all children are from a non-Irish background?

No matter how fantastic the work of the parents and teachers in schools such as Scoil Colm and Balbriggan Educate Together, which I admire greatly, it is not a desirable development in the long run to have segregated schools. In true Department of Education and Science fashion, the Minister and her officials seem determined to repeat the mistakes of earlier years and of other educational situations like the debate on autism and plunge blindly ahead regardless of the best interests of children and parents. It is time to consult and develop a fair and coherent system of school enrolment that facilitates children attending their local schools. I have proposed a national convention on education to address the delicate question of ethos and religion in respect of education. The primary problem remains the lack of coherent planning for places and the timely building of schools.

The Minister for Education and Science has announced three new schools but cannot tell us who will attend these schools or the enrolment procedure. We are piling mistake on mistake. The Minister must receive an all-party delegation, as her predecessors used to do, on education in Dublin 15. She is in hiding and while she may have money for the situation she is not considering the best interests of development of the whole community, including members of the traditional Irish community who have purchased houses, who work, pay PAYE and expect a primary school for their children. It is not good that a child from a new community may never go to school with an Irish child through all of the primary cycle and possibly the secondary cycle. This could be resolved if the Minister is prepared to address the issue.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it gives me the opportunity of outlining to the House the actions being taken by the Department of Education and Science to address the school accommodation needs of the Dublin 15 area.

The Minister for Education and Science is conscious that the Dublin 15 area is one of the most rapidly developing areas in the country and, as a result, there has been a marked increase in the demand for primary school places. The Department is taking a number of measures to increase the capacity of existing schools in the area concerned along with the development of new schools to meet this growing demand. All building projects arising from these are awarded a band 1 priority rating under the Department's prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects to ensure they are delivered as expeditiously as possible.

The position on recent and ongoing developments in the provision of school accommodation in the Dublin 15 area is as follows. A new 16 classroom school for Mary Mother of Hope national school in Littlepace opened in September 2007. A new school for Castaheany Educate Together is on schedule to open for September 2008 and a new school for St. Benedict's national school is set to follow for September 2009. Extension projects for primary schools in Castleknock, Blanchardstown and Corduff are also being progressed. In the Diswellstown area, St. Patrick's national school moved into a new 24 classroom school last year. This will facilitate an annual three stream intake. In addition, St. Mochta's national school was expanded in 2006 to cater for an annual four stream intake. An extension to cater for this development has been progressed to architectural planning. A site has been secured for a new school for Tyrrelstown Educate Together national school and the building will be provided as soon as possible.

A new State model community national school, under the patronage of the County Dublin Vocational Education Committee, is to be piloted in Phibblestown from September 2008. This will initially provide accommodation for an eight classroom school, to be expanded up to 24 classrooms as need is assessed. The Department conducted a survey of all primary schools in Dublin 15 to determine the number of junior infants who enrolled in September of 2006 and 2007. This survey indicated considerable numbers of children applied to enrol in more than one school. While this is understandable from parents' point of view, it has the result of inflating the number of children apparently seeking places.

Notwithstanding this, the Department of Education and Science is aware of the accommodation demands for September and is addressing this requirement. I can assure the Deputy that all options will be considered to ensure there are enough school places in September. This may include the provision of school transport if necessary.

Due to the level of demand emanating from the Dublin 15 area, the need to make further provision at primary level in addition to that outlined above is being kept under review by the Department. To this end the Minister for Education and Science has established a developing areas unit, headed by a principal officer, whose sole focus is to ensure that significant pupil places will be available in such areas of demand. The Minister is confident that the measures outlined will assist in alleviating the immediate demand for pupil places in the area.