Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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26. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to deal with the immediate crisis in primary school places in the Swords area. [10114/17]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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My question concerns the Minister's plans to deal with the immediate crisis in primary school places in the Swords area. I do not use the term "crisis" lightly. The Minister will know that there are already 107 children on the waiting list for Holy Family national school in Swords. When they corresponded with the Minister they were told to apply to St. Cronan's national school. When they went there, however, they were told there were no places. This situation needs emergency action because children will be starting primary school at six years of age if this matter is not addressed immediately.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Yes, I can understand the Deputy's concern. The Department has assessed the situation and according to its estimate there are 750 infant places in the area, which should be enough to meet demand. As the Deputy says, however, at this point some schools are over-subscribed and others believe they will be under-subscribed when they have the full returns by 1 March. That is the date by which the returns will become clearer.

In recent years there have been additional streams of junior infants in Holywell Educate Together and Scoil Náisiúnta Cholmcille boys and girls. The Department's view is that there are enough places, but my officials are closely monitoring the situation in Swords. We cannot guarantee that everyone will get the school they would prefer, which is a feature of the planning process. New schools or new school places are only provided where existing places are insufficient to meet the numbers. The Department is paying close attention to this matter. Enrolment figures will become clearer as and from today.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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I think it is fair to say that the information the Minister has is probably incorrect. His departmental officials wrote to parents and told them that currently there were places in St. Cronan's national school. When the parents applied, however, they were told they were outside the catchment area and that there were already 45 children on the waiting list in that area.

The Minister mentioned Holywell Educate Together school, which already has lengthy waiting lists. The Minister tells us that the final numbers will be known by the end of this month. If it becomes apparent at that stage, as I believe it will, that there are insufficient places to accommodate the children, what special measures is the Minister prepared to invoke?

I hear what he is saying about children not getting a place in the school of their choice. However, it is a real problem when we have 27 children who, if they are not accommodated this September, will be almost six when they start school. Half of those children have siblings in Holy Family National School. It is not practical for families to have to bring siblings to separate schools. Is the Minister considering putting an extra class in there, or extra class sizes to accommodate at least those children who will be starting school at six years of age if the places do not come through in September?

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Louise O'Reilly has a similar question, No. 39, so perhaps the Minister can combine them. I will then allow a final supplementary question from Deputy Clare Daly.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I raised this matter with the Minister two weeks ago. The problem for these parents is very real. It is not good enough for the Minister to say that he or his officials believe that somehow the capacity exists, when it does not. These parents are ringing the schools every day and asking for places because they are absolutely desperate. We need to know what measures the Minister is going to put in place.

Clearly there is an issue. There are 107 kids who do not have a school to go to. This year in Holy Family national school three of the six classes will be taken up by children who were on the waiting list from last year. The crèches are already full, so people cannot put their children back there. Given the traffic in Swords, it is not feasible to have siblings in separate schools. We need to hear from the Minister what he is going to do for these parents. They are absolutely desperate at this stage and cannot wait any longer.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Department's point, which is a fair one, is that until one has acceptances the position is unclear. I take Deputy Daly's point that people may be on a list who are within the admissions policy, while someone else cannot join or is in an inferior position. However, if those children at the higher position do not accept the places, they will then become available. That is why we will not really have clarity until the acceptances start to come through. That is because people will be in a lower category until those acceptances are clear. In addition, some children are on waiting lists for more than one school.

My Department is alert to the concerns of parents in this area. It is happening in other areas also and is a feature that occurs at this time when there is natural anxiety about getting into preferred schools or any school that is local and easily accessible.

I can assure the Deputies that the Department will continue to monitor this matter closely. I hope the information will become clearer when acceptances start to come through. The Department's case, that the 760 places are adequate to meet the needs, will also become clearer.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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Can the Minister give a timeframe for that? If he is saying it is the end of March, then let us make it the end of March, but deliver on it because it is causing enormous disquiet. I know a young woman in my area whose daughter will be almost six if she does not get a place this year. That young woman was ready to go back to work. She has no child care placement for her child this year and therefore will be unable to return to work due to this situation.

Other people who already have children in Holy Family national school are not even guaranteed a place in a different part of Swords. Even if they were, however, the logistics of manoeuvring that would be difficult.

We are dealing with people who have been linked to those schools intergenerationally. There is a crisis. The figures, which the parents have done with the schools, would show that it is not going to come good in the end. In the event that it does not, and the Minister's information is not accurate, is he prepared to sanction, for example, a seventh class in Holy Family, which would alleviate some of the pressure for the older children? Is he prepared to increase the pupil-teacher ratio to, for example, 30 to get us over this glitch? What other immediate solutions can be found for this crisis? Does the Minister have a date for when we could get some of those decisions?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Department will have to examine all the options at that point to see how best to respond to the needs in the area. I cannot give an indication at this stage as to what the response could be. It is not that the Department needs to be told, but I will convey the anxiety of the Deputies, which I am sure reflects the anxiety of parents for their children, and I will see if we can address this. As I said, the information is only becoming clear now. It will become clearer over the coming weeks and the Department will then be in a position to work with schools, which would obviously have to accommodate any adaptation offered.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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Does the Minister have a date for that?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I do not have a date. Some schools have set an offer date of 1 March but not every school would necessarily apply that date, so I do not have information as to whether we will have adequate data at that point.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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Will the Minister come back to us on that?

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister come back to us with a date?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I will seek to come back to all the Deputies in the area, to be fair to everyone who is not here, to see if we can respond to that.