David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue matter and I thank the Minister of State for being here. Every year we have pressures in east Cork with regard to second level school places. Thanks to the work of the departmental officials, the education and training board and the principals of the local schools, it has been resolved every year, but every year it becomes more pressurised and it takes longer. I am sure the Minister of State will appreciate the stresses and worry that occur in families where a child does not have a place in a secondary school and that child is asking what is wrong with him or her and wondering why he or she has not been offered a place.

I am particularly concerned about this year. All of the principals came together earlier in the year and they compared notes, lists and so on, but from the work I have done on the ground, I am concerned there could be up to 100 students without school places in September unless serious action is taken. I wrote to the Minister on this last December. She responded to me after Christmas and I thank her and her office for that. She spoke about duplication of applications, school of choice, pupils being unable to get a place in their preferred school, some towns having single-sex schools, and an external draw with people coming from outside of the area. All of these issues have been dealt with by the principals and we still have a situation where in some schools there are up to 40 students who have not applied to any other school and who are on a waiting list to go to one particular school.

The principals are working hard, their staff are working hard and I pay tribute to what they have done over the Covid period but this is coming up fast and we need to get a plan in place now. We know it takes time to put a plan in place so that all of these students can be offered a place in September. The forward planning needs to be addressed. I am lucky to be in an area that is growing where more housing is being built and planned, and as we know, it takes quite a while to put a school in place. Some of the schools there are old, the buildings are old and the campuses are already very cramped and need to be replaced, especially St. Aloysius' College in Carrigtwohill and St. Mary's High School in Midleton. They could do with new campuses. A couple of years ago, Midleton CBS Secondary School got a brand new campus, and St. Colman's Community College in Midleton has also got a big extension. The area is growing rapidly and the waiting lists are there now. The principals have worked as hard as they can and I have spoken to quite a few of them.

The only entity that can deal with this and take a bird's eye view is the Department of Education. I know some of the officials are seized of this but I ask them to redouble their efforts, engage with the schools, double-check the lists, find out exactly what the real number is with respect to children who do not have a place, and work hard to make those places available. I know my other Oireachtas colleagues are available to assist and support with our local knowledge if that is required or helpful.

On that issue, we have been arguing for quite a while about a new second level school in Carrigtwohill. It has been in the planning process for a long time. We are told the tenders will be issued at the end of the first quarter, which is very soon. The students in that excellent school are in temporary accommodation and they have been there for quite a while. We need that school to advance. It will possibly take two years to build before students can go in the front door.

The Ceann Comhairle will appreciate my concern that, at the end of August and in early September, we will still have students without school places. What do we tell the parents? Where are these children to go? What is the solution? It is serious and urgent. I need officials from the Department to drill down into the waiting lists and figures and come up with answers and solutions on accommodation for these children pretty soon.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it gives me the opportunity to outline for the House the position with regard to post-primary school development in east Cork. To plan for school provision and to analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a geographic information system, GIS. The GIS uses data from a range of sources, including child benefit data from the Department of Social Protection and the Department's school enrolment databases, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise.

This process has been strengthened this year through three specific initiatives. First, there has been enhanced engagement with local authorities on the information on residential development incorporated in the analytical process. Second, there has been additional engagement with patron bodies on their local knowledge on school place requirements. Education and training boards, diocesan offices and national patron bodies such as Educate Together and An Foras Pátrúnachta can also be important sources of local knowledge. This will add to information provided to the Department by local authorities or individual schools. Third, there is a utilising of information which is gleaned from schools under the national inventory of school capacity, which was completed by individual schools last year as part of the primary online database, POD, and post-primary online database, P-POD, returns process.

Where data indicate additional provision is required at primary or post-primary level, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case. It may be provided through either one of the following measures or a combination of them: utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools, extending the capacity of a school or schools, or provision of a new school if and where required. In a regular year, addressing the increased demand for school places, while challenging, is manageable. Generally, there is a utilisation of existing spare capacity within schools, rental, temporary accommodation or other short-term measures, pending the delivery of permanent accommodation.

Where capacity issues arise, it may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may be driven by other factors. The Deputy mentioned the Minister wrote to him after Christmas and outlined the matter of the duplication of applications. The Deputy mentioned the principals say they have dealt with this and I will inform the Minister of that. That is a factor that is taken into account. The duplication of applications occurs when pupils have applied for a place to a number of schools in an area. School of choice is another factor whereby pupils cannot get a place in their preferred school, while there are places in other schools in the town or area. Some towns or areas have single-sex schools, and while places are available in that school, they are not available to all pupils. An external draw also takes place, whereby pupils are coming from outside the local area.

Similar to the process adopted in advance of the current academic year, the Department has been engaging with patron bodies in east Cork to identify particular capacity requirements for the forthcoming year which may necessitate action. I heard the figure the Deputy mentioned. I understand this process is nearing completion and the schools in the area will be in a position to offer additional places in the coming weeks.

It is also open to patrons of schools to submit applications for additional interim accommodation to the Department for consideration should this be required.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response. I note the three points she made. She spoke about availing of unused capacity. However, all the schools are full and they all have waiting lists. She also suggested extending capacity. Some of the schools cannot do that because, physically, it is very difficult for them to do that. Two of the schools will probably need a brand-new campus because they are old and already stretched to the limit. I would welcome a new school but that will take some time to be delivered.

I ask the Minister to keep me and my colleagues apprised of the figures that have been made available to the Department. I am concerned about patrons asking for extra accommodation because there is no compulsion or onus on them to do that. If schools are already stretched to the limit and do not have space, they will be slow to do that. We must also consider health and safety requirements. If a school is already creaking under the number of students it has and cannot take any more physically, it is unsafe and unfair to shoehorn more students in there for want of a better way of putting it. That is also wrong.

There may be other solutions involving other buildings in the area that might be utilised in the interim. There are plans to build more houses in the area for young families. Indeed, more houses are being built in the area and are coming on stream quickly. We need advance planning in order to have more secondary school places. I listened to the earlier debate on further education. Students need the best of facilities that we can offer. They need gymnasiums and other physical education facilities, science labs, workshops and so forth. In some instances, these can only be provided by building new schools.

I recognise that departmental officials have been working on this matter. I ask them to redouble their efforts. This is serious. Even with what they have planned already, we could still have up to 100 students without places in September and I am at a loss to know what they will do. I ask the Minister of State to take those issues back to the Department. I thank her for being here and for her words.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising his concerns on the matter. Obviously, it is critical from the perspective of the Department and of the Minister, Deputy Foley, that we do not just provide school places for the existing school-going children but also forward plan into the future as the Deputy correctly stated in his contribution. That is why the mechanisms by which we do our forward planning are used by the Department. For example, I mentioned the GIS earlier for the 314 school planning areas and that needs to be done.

I understand that there have been ongoing conversations with the patron bodies. We do not want any child to be without a school place in September, let alone the 100 children the Deputy mentioned. I understand how the Department will meet those capacity challenges. One of the ways of doing that is by accelerating the delivery of school building projects. There are 200 ongoing building projects and some of these will provide additional accommodation. They will also accelerate the delivery of small-scale projects which are currently at the preplanning stage. In addition, they will deploy prefabricated modular accommodation solutions to provide additional classroom capacity where it is required.

The Department can also rent available spaces within the community for use by schools. All these mechanisms will be used where necessary. There are three very strong post primary schools in east Cork: the Ballincollig school; the new post-primary Carrigtwohill community college - I acknowledge that a permanent building is still to be constructed; and the new post-primary school in the Cork south suburbs. I reassure the Deputy that I will take his concerns back to the Minister and ensure that every child in east Cork will have a secondary school place in September.